Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death - Volume 1: The Return Home Arc
by Duelist10148
Summary: Mike Slade is a young duelist who spent the last two years of his life in a hell beyond anything he or anyone else could ever imagine. But now that he has returned to his home of County Dame, and has reunited with his old friends, he hopes that perhaps he can put his past two years behind him to start his life over. Taking no OCs. Arc-V categorized for use of ALL cards. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1: Return

**A/N: PLEASE READ**

**So you're here to read Mark of Death, huh? Well, I have to say, firstly, thank you for taking the time to do so. I just wanna point out one thing about my writing in this piece, however. A lot of you will remember me for my YGO story called "The Lost Decks," I'm sure, so you're all pretty familiar with my writing style. Well, I consider this chapter complete pandemonium—I haven't worked on or written full chapters for stories like this in FOREVER, however my writing has greatly improved over the time I've been away, and I'm also copying/pasting a lot of the MUCH earlier cuts of this first chapter into this new cut. Expect that to be happening a lot in the first few chapters, since I'm lazy and I just wanna do the story. So bear with me. XD**

**Also to point out: I'll have A/N's at the top and bottom of every chapter, so be sure to look at them. **

**All that aside, I hope you enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death's first chapter. ROLL THE CLIP!**

* * *

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 1**

**"Return"**

* * *

The city of County Dame found itself bustling with even more life and energy as the sun began to rise high above it and its inhabitants. Great shadows fell upon one another and upon other buildings thanks to the sun's light up above, giving plenty of shade to help the citizens of the grand-scale city beat the heat as the warm, May weather became even warmer, signaling that summer was fast approaching.

This was a fact that the students of the city's one and only high school, Dexterity High, knew all too well—they were especially looking forward to getting out of school in the upcoming June. It explained why these teenagers were able to be in such good moods as they stepped off of their busses onto the concrete sidewalk that Dexterity High was aligned with.

Though rather unusual, Dexterity High was actually built a little ways away from the city itself, rising as high as some of the tallest skyscrapers in the main part of the city thanks to the fact that it was built on top of a paved hill. Reaching four stories high, the school looked tall and intimidating enough from just standing in front of it and looking up at it-something that a lot of other Dexterity High students had immediately taken notice of before their first time walking through the glass double doors that led inside.

Three of these students were not just immediately walking inside to get to class, however, as they knew they had plenty of time before their first block got started. "I just don't understand how Mr. Carnell expected us to memorize each and every one of the Presidents in just one night," one of the boys standing amongst the three spoke, speaking of their English teacher as he slid his skateboard back and forth across the gravel under his brand-name shoes.

His long, brown hair was slicked back and tied up in a long ponytail, unable to cover up his emerald eyes like it could when it wasn't tied back. He wore a red hoodie with cut-off sleeves over a black t-shirt, and ripped jean-shorts on his legs. He was about seventeen years old, soon to be eighteen in his senior year.

The girl beside him just shook her head at her friend's complaint. "What's wrong with just giving up one night to memorize a couple of names, Danny?" she giggled, obviously amused at her friend's lack of enthusiasm for academic achievement.

Her black hair was cut short, and it went well with her dark eyes that had no real discernable color. Her choice of clothing was a red tank top shirt, along with blue pants that were rolled up past her knees because of the hot weather. She was younger than them all, only sixteen years old as a junior.

"Marina, I understand and respect that you're supposed to be a good student and all," the teen named Danny retorted as he looked up at the sky uncaringly, "But all I'm saying is, if teachers wanted us to succeed in school, they wouldn't have us working to memorize so many names in one night!"

The shorter girl named Marina gave a small "Hmph!" before shooting back at him, "If you spent as much time actually trying to do work than complaining, you might actually have decent grades and a future to look forward to!"

As the two of them bickered back and forth as they usually did on this subject, the third girl between them seemed to shrink away from the conversation. Her long, purple hair reached a fair length down her back, and her bangs were long enough in the front to hide her face. Her misty silver eyes reflected that of wonder and quietness. Her grey, short-sleeved shirt covered the waistband of her black shorts, which reached down to her blue-checkered, slip-on shoes.

But today there was no sign of life in her eyes. The frown that her lips had curled into gave her an expression of solemnness that she tried to hide beneath her bangs, however Danny and Marina knew her too well to know that her current body posture was a sign that something was bothering her. Noticing it out of the corner of their eyes, they quelled their bickering to turn to her, Marina being the first to ask: "What's wrong, Violet?"

The teen named Violet now looked up to her two remaining friends out of the original three she used to have, her expression apparently shocked that the two of them had forgotten the significance of today's date. "Do you two not realize just _what_ today is?"

Marina quickly picked up on what Violet was implying as her face now became sullen as well. Only Danny remained the oblivious one as he asked, "Am I the only one who has no idea what you two are talking about?

He then watched a silent tear begin to fall from Violet's face, and she quickly jerked her head away from his sight to have her hair cover her face again. Marina now shot him a look, to which he innocently shrugged confusedly.

Marina now grabbed him by his sleeveless hoodie and pulled him out of earshot from Violet in front of the school as another busload of students were dropped off. The sound of the others' chattering made it so that Danny could barely hear Marina, but at least Violet wouldn't overhear what she reminded him:

"It's been two years since the day Mike took off, remember?"

Not a moment passed before Danny's eyes widened in shock at how he had completely forgotten. Everyone in the entire school—as well as the entire city—knew the story about how his best friend, Mike Slade, had suddenly disappeared towards the end of his sophomore year. No one had known just what exactly had happened to him, and the people who ran the orphanage at which he had been living at prior to his disappearance had no idea where he had gone. He had just gone to school one morning, and never came back.

Mike, Danny, Marina, and Violet had all been close friends since middle school, and had spent a lot of time together trying to avoid a bully by the name of Josiah and his group of followers. Mike and Danny usually spent a lot of time dueling against him in games of Duel Monsters to try and keep him and his lackeys from bothering the four of them. However, amongst their group, Mike was always the only one with enough dueling skill to actually take Josiah down.

As the last students from the last bus entered the school, Danny and Marina could hear Violet's soft, quiet crying from behind the corner of the school's exterior; each choking sob tugging at their heartstrings as they remembered all the suffering they'd gone through without Mike around.

"Man..." Danny finally managed to mutter in a low tone as he leaned against a streetlight pole in front of the school, "I can't believe it's actually been two years, and we still haven't heard a _thing_ from him..."

"You think WE take it hard?" Marina muttered back, "I can't even _begin_ to imagine the effect it's had on Violet..."

It was a known fact between the two of them that Mike and Violet had both always carried very heavy feelings for each other. In fact, the two of them had already known each other long before middle school—back to when they were just kids. Mike's parents, before their untimely death, had been close and personal friends with Violet's widowed father since before the two of them were born, and thus the two of them had always been together no matter what. And though the two of them never realized it themselves, everyone else found it obvious that the two of them held affection for each other

So when Marina said she couldn't even begin to imagine what Violet was feeling, she was absolutely right: neither her nor Danny were feeling that same deep depression that Violet had been thrown into, feeling as if she had lost a part of herself.

"What the hell are you losers hanging around here for?"

Danny and Marina turned sharply to watch as Josiah exited the school with the rest of the football team—which he was captain of—behind him. He wore a black Dexterity High School jacket over a white muscle shirt, with the words "DEXTERITY HIGH" spread across the back in capitals. His pants were a dark purple color, which contrasted with his black shoes. On the left side of his unzipped jacket, the school logo was emblazoned by a neatly woven patch: a knight dressed in full, silver armor. He bore a purple duel disk on his left arm.

His face bore his usual stupid grin that was his trademark appearance. He had spiked, black hair, and dark eyes that were full of glee. His groupies behind him were dressed just like him, only they all wore purple hats facing backwards. Each and every one of them were on the football team for the school, however their legendary reputation at winning every single game they played did not make up for their records as bullies.

Danny, now used to standing up to these guys without Mike's assistance, now rolled his eyes at them all. "Geez, you jocks just can't get a life of your own, can you?" he shot at them, clearly not in any mood to start a fight, "Get lost, already."

Josiah could only laugh at this, and then disregarded Danny's words as he then continued, "Aw, looks like the members of the wimp squad are having a bad day! Why—oh, _why_—could that be?"

He, along with the rest of his followers mimicked that of a person who was thinking about something by cupping their chins with their hand, using their other hand to support the first's elbow.

They stood like this for a while as Danny glared at them, while Marina seemed to shrink behind him. Before long, Josiah had clapped his hands in fake realization as he cried out loud, "Oh, yeah, that's right! Your 'friend' Mike disappeared two years ago today!"

He and the rest of his team behind him now began to laugh as Danny could only manage to glare at Josiah coldly, his teeth clenched as Marina seemed to shrink even more behind him. Both of them could now hear Violet from around the corner trying to hold back tears, but it sounded like they were violently forcing their way out of her.

"Why, I ought to..." Danny began to threaten, but Josiah cut him off.

"What, are you gonna challenge me to a duel again?" he suggested mockingly, now pointing to Danny's bare left arm as he pointed out "You're not even wearing your duel disk! You know you actually have to have the right equipment to actually beat me, right? Not that you ever beat me anyway!"

Danny balled his fists. He didn't want to start a confrontation, but it looked like he just might have to as Josiah now advanced, cracking his knuckles. Marina whimpered behind him in fear.

"This'll be fun..." Josiah spoke sadistically as he cracked his neck, and both Danny and Marina braced themselves as they closed their eyes, waiting for the fists to start flying.

"STOP!"

Danny and Marina were ultimately shocked when they opened their eyes to see that Violet had thrown herself in front of the two of them to stop Josiah. "Violet!" Danny managed to gasp out.

But Josiah cut off whatever else Danny would've said as his eyes widened in surprise, saying "So the third member of the wimp squad is here after all! Even better!"

Violet's tear-stained eyes now widened as well, along with her other two friends' eyes as they all realized that Josiah wasn't even going to spare the girls.

"I'm gonna enjoy this a lot more than I should..." Josiah uttered as he stepped closer to Violet, reaching out his hand as if to grab her as she shut her eyes in panic.

"No, you're not."

Josiah's hand stopped abruptly at the sound of the new voice coming from behind the trio, and Violet, Danny, and Marina all turned to see where Josiah was now looking as well to see who had spoken:

The first distinctive feature they all noticed was the shaggy, dirty-blonde hair atop the young man's head, with long bangs parted down the middle and the length in the back appearing to reach a little past his neck. His eyes were closed, and his lips were curved into some kind of expression that no one could tell whether was a frown or a smile of some sort. He wore a long, black duster openly over a black shirt. Along with those he wore black pants as well, held up by a belt of matching color with a silver belt buckle. His black shoes only complimented the rest of his attire.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Josiah found himself saying, however Violet, Danny, and Marina were not as oblivious as to who this could be as he was.

But because of the slight doubt in their minds, they were all left to think the same thing: _"This can't possibly be HIM...?"_

"Josiah Sullivan…" the young man's voice spoke plainly as he finally opened his sea—blue eyes, gazing past the trio and into Josiah's, "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

The oceanic-blue orbs finally confirmed to Violet, Danny, and Marina that this WAS who they thought it was, and even Josiah finally gotten the hint as his face paled.

"M-Mike...!" he was only able to stammer the name, "I-I had th-thought you were-"

"Dead?" Mike finished his sentence for him, no actual feeling or tone detectable in his voice, "As if. I'm far from it."

Though everyone was sharing in the same kind of shock, Violet was the only exception to this. Mike was _here_—and _alive_, no less—standing before her eyes; a sight she thought she would never see in her life again.

Josiah tried to speak again, but all he could manage was, "W-where have you—!"

"I don't see any reason why I owe _you_ an explanation," Mike cut him off in the same monotonous voice he'd been using.

Danny was speechless as Marina quivered, only now out of excitement, not fear. Violet, on the other hand, was literally petrified in the moment, unable to decide how she should react now that the boy she had held affection for for years was finally back. All she could manage to do was stand there and stare at Mike.

Now Mike locked eyes with his friends for the first time. "We'll all get to talk later, I promise," he assured them, earning a nod from Danny and Marina, but Violet still couldn't even move.

Mike now focused his attention back on Josiah. "If I remember correctly, your twentieth birthday was last month. So remind me which grade it was that you got held back three times in?"

Danny and Marina forced themselves to hold back laughter as Josiah's face turned a deep red. Even the rest of his team behind him were resisting the temptation of laughing at this fact.

After regaining the color in his face, Josiah glared at Mike coldly. "So what, you think you're all high and mighty now?" he shot at him, "Decked out in your new emo getup? Huh?! You think you're BETTER than me?!"

"I don't 'think' anything," Mike replied coolly, "I know that I far outmatch you at this point."

Josiah put on a brave face now, only somewhat convinced that Mike might have something over him. "Alright, Mister Cocky; you think you can still take me down in a duel?" he challenged, his duel disk activating upon his left arm, "Because I'll have you know that I've improved my deck quite a bit since our last duel!"

Mike did not reply or react to this in any way, but instead only reached to the inside of his duster, and as fast as lightning he pulled from a holster what looked like a revolver.

Josiah teetered backwards in fright as Danny watched with wide eyes; Marina shrieked in fear as Violet continued to stare, mesmerized. But Mike did something with that gun which was unexpected by them all:

He held the barrel of the gun to his wrist, and from the bottom of it nearest his wrist emerged a small wrist holder that wrapped around his arm, and the rather wide muzzle revealed to be holding a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Emerging from the top side of the barrel was a small piece of metal, which then seemed to split itself and expand, revealing five monster card zones along with spell and trap card zone beneath them.

"A duel with you should be interesting..." Mike mused as he stepped off from the sidewalk into the middle of the vehicle-less road, "So amuse me."

Josiah now stepped onto the road after realizing just what the rifle-shaped contraption was. "Alright then, I WILL!" he cried out, "Time for me to crush you!"

"Is that any way to speak to the one who had still continuously beaten you time after time?" Mike replied, earning another glare from Josiah as he continued, "No wonder you kept being held back. You never learn from your mistakes."

The rest of Josiah's crew struggled to hold back their laughter, but Josiah couldn't have cared less about them at this point. All he wanted to do was take Mike down, and that's what his sole focus was going to be.

They both drew five cards from their duel disks, crying: "DUEL!"

**[Mike – LP: 8000]**

**[Josiah – LP: 8000]**

"Since you only just got back," Josiah told Mike with a false tone of politeness, "I think I'll let you take the first move!"

"Big mistake," Mike shot back as he drew first, adding his sixth card to his hand.

Without as much as a glance or a thought he immediately started, "I begin by summoning my Constellar Algiedi in ATK mode!"

**[Constellar Algiedi – ATK: 1600]**

Danny's eyes widened at the sight of this creature. "What the hell is that supposed to be?" he wondered aloud, "A Constellar…?"

"I've never heard of it either…" Marina admitted as Danny nodded that he too had never heard of them before, "What happened to his Lightsworn build…?"

Violet still couldn't find it in herself to move, much less find her voice. The shock of finally seeing Mike again had entirely overwhelmed her.

"And now my Algiedi's special ability comes next," Mike continued, "Which means I can now special summon another LV 4 Constellar from my hand. And I choose my Constellar Pollux!"

**[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"Next I'll activate the continuous spell card, Constellar Star Chart!" Mike spoke, "Which will come in handy a little later on.

"For now, I overlay my LV 4 Constellars: Algiedi and Pollux!" he cried as his two monsters were absorbed into a spatial portal, "And in doing so, I Xyz summon my Constellar Praesepe!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

Josiah now looked taken aback at the power of this new creature, while Danny's jaw had dropped like a snake with its jaw unhinged, and Marina was marveling at the sight of this new being. Violet still couldn't even form a full thought in her mind.

Josiah managed to recover his game face as he shot at Mike, "So you've got some new cards! So what?"

"_So_, you should be panicking at this point," Mike replied coldly, "And that aside, I also have my Constellar Star Chart's effect to activate now, allowing me to draw one card whenever I Xyz summon a Constellar monster successfully!"

He drew another card to bring his hand count to four before finishing with, "I'll end my turn with one set card."

"Then it's my turn, now!" Josiah proclaimed as he drew for his first turn, and he scanned his hand for a strategy he could use.

"Alright," he started, "Like your little Constellar Star Chart, I'll begin with a spell card that's gonna help me out later: Six Samurai United!"

"Oh, no…" Marina uttered as she bit her lip nervously, "Not this early in the duel…"

"Now whenever a Six Samurai monster is summoned to my field, it gains a Bushido counter!" Josiah explained as he took another card from his hand, "And speaking of summoning, I'll use my Elder of the Six Samurai's effect—special summoning itself to my field when I have no monsters while you do!"

**[Elder of the Six Samurai – ATK: 400]**

**[Six Samurai United – Bushido Counters: 1]**

"And now it's gonna get worse for you when I summon my Kagemusha of the Six Samurai!" Josiah continued as an evil gleam seemed to appear in his eyes.

**[Kagemusha of the Six Samurai – ATK: 400]**

**[Six Samurai United – Bushido Counters: 2]**

"And with these two monsters out and about now," Josiah cried as he sent them to his graveyard, "I can tune my LV 2 Kagemusha to my LV 3 Elder, and Synchro summon my Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En!"

**[Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En – ATK: 2500]**

Now Josiah grinned devilishly as his great warrior took to the field, however he still felt slightly uneasy as he saw Mike continue to stare emotionlessly at the new monster. Almost anyone would panic at the sight of it, concerning its effects, however Mike seemed completely undeterred.

"This is your idea of an opening move?" Mike asked mockingly, "Tell me this is a bad joke."

Josiah snarled at him. "You'll eat those words in a minute," he cried as he then sent his Six Samurai United to his graveyard, "Now I'll use my spell's effect: with two Bushido counters on it, I can now draw two cards!"

He drew his two cards, and smirked at one of the ones he'd drawn: "Now that I control at least one other differently—named Six Samurai on my field," he went on, "I can bring out the Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan to my field!"

**[Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan – ATK: 1800]**

"And now I'll launch my onslaught on your Constellar Praesepe with my Shi En!" Josiah cried as his monster made a lightning—swift dash towards Mike's monster.

Danny and Marina held their breaths as Mike calmly held out his arm towards his Constellar Praesepe, saying, "Sorry, but that's not good enough: I play the special ability of my Constellar Praesepe!

"By detaching one overlay unit," he explained, "I can increase the ATK power of a Constellar monster that is attacking or being attacked by 1000. And this turn, I'll be increasing my Praesepe's ATK value!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

As gasps came from Josiah's team, Danny, and Marina, Violet finally got the feeling back in her legs and walked to be alongside Danny and Marina as she watched Josiah panic at the sight of his Legendary Six Samurai Synchro get forced back, about to get destroyed.

But he had a backup plan: "With my Shi En's effect," he countered, "I can destroy my Kizan in its place!"

Kizan rushed to defend Shi En as Praesepe thrust its hand; however its target had changed to Kizan, who groaned before shattering.

**[Josiah – LP: 6400]**

Josiah growled at Mike as he finished, "I set two cards… turn end."

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

Mike drew his next card silently without taking his eyes off of Josiah. He hadn't even looked at what he'd drawn before immediately beginning with, "I summon my Constellar Leonis!"

**[Constellar Leonis – ATK: 1000]**

"And thanks to him," he explained as he took another card from his hand, "I can normal summon another Constellar monster. So rise forth: Constellar Kaus!"

**[Constellar Kaus – ATK: 1800]**

"And now my Constellar Kaus had an ability that can be activated twice per turn," he explained, "Which will increase the LV of a Constellar monster by one per usage of the effect. So I'll raise my Leonis's LV by 2!"

**[Constellar Leonis – LV: 5]**

"And now I'm gonna activate my Star Changer spell card," Mike continued, "Which will increase the LV of my Kaus by 1!"

Josiah immediately saw what Mike was going for: he was looking to make two LV 5 monsters so he could Xyz summon again. But he wouldn't allow for it:

"I activate the effect of my Shi En!" he shot at Mike, "Which means one per turn, a spell or trap card you activate is immediately negated and destroyed!"

Shi En swiftly dashed towards the spell that had appeared on the field, and slashed through it with his sword before returning quickly to Josiah's side.

Mike did not react, but instead continued on like nothing had happened: "I'll move into the battle phase, then. Constellar Praesepe, use your ability again and grant yourself 1000 more ATK, and then attack Shi En !"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

But as Mike's monster charged at Josiah's Shi En, Josiah only grinned maliciously as he flipped his trap card: "I activate my Mirror Force!" he cried, "Which means you can say goodbye to your little army of monsters!"

Constellar Praesepe hit an invisible barrier between them and Josiah, and after the recoil was shattered along with Constellar Leonis and Constellar Kaus by the force of the trap.

Danny was ultimately surprised by this. Mike had known Josiah had had a set card at the ready, and he went and took a careless strike at him anyway. "Mike!" Danny called to his best friend, "What were you thinking? You knew he had a card set—!"

"Shut it," Mike calmly cut Danny off without even a glance, taking him aback at the sudden silencing; "When you're the one doing the dueling, you can decide your own moves."

This was a first for Mike. Everyone knew that, though he was silent around the edges, Mike was one of the nicest people anyone could get to know. So when he had spoken the words "shut it," surprise struck on everyone's faces, even Josiah's.

But Josiah quickly recovered as he tantalized, "Looks like all your time away not only hardened your attitude, but left you brain dead enough to take a careless strike at me!"

"I didn't attack because I was careless," Mike explained, causing Josiah to raise his eyebrows, "I attacked because even if you did manage to counteract, it still didn't make you any less of a threat to me.

"But last I checked," Mike continued as he flipped his own set card, "Talk is cheap, so I'll stop this idle chatter and activate my Xyz Reborn trap card, reviving any Xyz monster in my graveyard, and then becoming an overlay unit for it. So rise once again, Constellar Praesepe!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

"Now let's try this again!" Mike decided as he cried, "Praesepe, use your effect and bring your strength up by 1000 once again, and attack Shi En!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

Josiah knew his other set card was useless, and could only cry out as Mike's Praesepe punched its way through Shi En, finally destroying him as it brought Josiah's LP down once again.

**[Josiah – LP: 5500]**

Danny, Marina, and Violet were bewildered by what they had seen. Josiah was one of the few teenage duelists in County Dame who actually had a good, effective deck, and the fact that one of its ace monsters had just been shattered by a creature of an archetype none of them had heard of before came as a shock. And what was crazier still was the fact that Mike had not lost a single LP all game as of yet, and didn't appear ready to lose even one anytime soon.

"I'll end my turn with one set card…" Mike concluded, "Your move, Josiah. Or are you too stunned to even fight back now?"

"You wish!" Josiah cried as he drew once again.

When he saw what he'd drawn, he couldn't believe how lucky he'd been to draw what he had.

"I'll first start with my trap card, Double—Edged Sword Technique!" he cried as his other set card now flipped, "And with it, I revive two Six Samurai monsters in my graveyard to my field! So my Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En and my Elder of the Six Samurai now come back once again!"

**[Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En – ATK: 2500]**

**[Elder of the Six Samurai – ATK: 400]**

"And now I'll summon Junk Synchron!" Josiah continued with a sly smile, "And its effect brings back my Kagemusha!"

**[Junk Synchron – ATK: 1300]**

**[Kagemusha of the Six Samurai – ATK: 400]**

Mike didn't show it, but this was exactly what he'd been afraid of Josiah doing. Though it was entirely out of place for a Six Samurai deck, Junk Synchron was actually really effective with Josiah's Synchro strategy. Reviving his Kagemusha and swarming with at least two other monsters made for two easy Synchro summons in one turn.

"Now I'll tune my Kagemusha to my Elder!" Josiah cried, "And these two shall now create my X-Saber Wayne!"

**[X-Saber Wayne – ATK: 2100]**

"And with its summoning, I can now bring forth The Six Samurai – Zanji!" Josiah continued.

**[The Six Samurai – Zanji – ATK: 1800]**

"And next I'm tuning my Junk Synchron to my Shi En!" Josiah cried, ready to now bring out his ace monster, "Now rise: my Crimson Blader!"

**[Crimson Blader – ATK: 2800]**

Danny's jaw dropped while Marina's eyes went wide with shock. Josiah only used Crimson Blader when he was looking to lock down his opponent permanently to avoid dealing with his opponent any more than he had to. He had found Mike's skill level and cold demeanor a threat at this point.

Josiah eyed Mike's set card just once before deciding to take a chance, declaring, "Alright, now my Crimson Blader will strike down your Constellar Praesepe!"

Crimson Blader took up his two swords and dashed at Praesepe, and slashed through it easily, finally bringing Mike's LP down a bit.

**[Mike – LP: 7600]**

"And now for the best part of my move!" Josiah cried gleefully, "Now you're forbidden from summoning LV 5 or higher monsters in your next turn!"

"Big deal," Mike spoke as he indicated the trap he'd activated moments before, "Your little powerhouse is going bye—bye right now thanks to my Constellar Meteor!

"Thanks to this trap card," Mike explained as Josiah's eyes widened, "Any monster that battles a Constellar monster and lives is shuffled back into the deck. So your Crimson Blader is returning to your extra deck!"

Crimson Blader disappeared from Josiah's field, while the latter balled his free hand into a fist. "Zanji and Wayne," he cried out angrily, "Attack Mike directly!"

His two named monsters went to work: Wayne's pistol bullet shot right through Mike's chest, while Zanji's spear struck down from Mike's head to toe.

**[Mike – LP: 5500]**

**[Mike – LP: 3700]**

Gasps came from Danny, Marina, and Violet while the bunch behind Josiah cheered for their leader's great volley of attacks. Josiah himself laughed out of his own pride.

"Looks like you can't hold a candle to me after all!" he called to Mike.

But Mike had not moved a muscle the entire time the turn had been played out; not even when his monster had been destroyed, or when his LP had taken so much damage.

"It's like he had ice in his blood…" Marina murmured, "Kind of creepy…"

Josiah noticed Mike's lack of reaction as well. "What, you're gonna keep a poker face all day?" he taunted, "I've struck your LP down, and all you can do is stand there?"

"Are you done?" Mike countered coldly, "I'm sick of listening to you run your mouth."

Josiah's eyes lit up with fury at the insult as Mike continued, "I'm here to duel, not listen to a monologue. So make a move."

Josiah's eyes flared before he finished, "Well, I've got nothing else to do, so I end my turn!"

"About time," Mike spoke as he drew once more.

No one could speak at this point. The sight of the two duelists now squaring off face-to-face was about the most exhilarating thing that the trio of friends or Josiah's team had ever witnessed in a long time. Not once had a duel with this much intensity ever been known to happen in County Dame before, and the fact that it was occurring here and now before their eyes was almost an honor to them.

"I'll begin with my Pot of Avarice," Mike began, "Which will add all five of the Constellar monsters in my graveyard to my deck, and then I shuffle and draw two cards!"

As he carried out the effect, Josiah wondered if Mike would actually be able to turn things around in his favor.

Mike finally drew his two cards, and then continued his move with, "I then summon my Constellar Pollux back to my field!"

**[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"And thanks to him, I can bring forth another Constellar monster as a normal summon!" Mike cried, "And I'm calling forth my Constellar Algiedi!"

**[Constellar Algiedi – ATK: 1600]**

"Now I'll overlay these two monsters as well!" Mike cried as a special portal opened once again, "And now, by building this overlay network, I Xyz summon my Starliege Paladynamo!"

**[Starliege Paladynamo – ATK: 2000]**

Danny, Marina, and Violet were now facing their biggest shocker yet. This had been the one card out of his former Lightsworn build that they had seen so far. It had always been his ace monster, and apparently that hadn't changed.

"Now I'll use my Starliege Paladynamo's effect," Mike continued as Josiah began to panic in his mind, "By detaching both of his overlay units, I can bring your X—Saber Wayne's ATK to 0, and wipe out its special abilities!"

**[X-Saber Wayne – ATK: 0]**

"Now wipe out X-Saber Wayne!" Mike declared as he pointed to Josiah's monster.

Without a moment's hesitation, Starliege Paladynamo took its space—like blade and slashed Wayne down to size in one swipe, while the shockwaves from the attack forced Josiah to flinch as his LP declined once again.

**[Josiah – LP: 3500]**

Now Josiah was beyond infuriated. Mike had brought out his oldest monster and completely struck him down with it, just like he'd done on so many other occasions. He wasn't ready to let the duel end like that again.

"I end my turn," Mike finished up, and Josiah drew his next card silently as he fumed with anger.

"I'll summon my Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi!" he cried out.

**[Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi – ATK: 1700]**

"Now its effect will let me banish two Six Samurai monsters from my graveyard, like my Elder and my Kagemusha!" he continued, "And now I can return your Paladynamo to your hand, or in this case your extra deck!"

Starliege Paladynamo faded from the field as Josiah cried, "And now I'll show you the monster that's been the bane of your dueling existence since our first duel! I overlay my Zanji and my Enishi!"

Everyone watching this duel was now terrified by this move as another portal opened once again, this time on Josiah's side of the field as Josiah cried out, "I Xyz summon my Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien!"

**[Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien – ATK: 2500]**

Mike eyed this Xyz warrior loathingly. It really had been the one thing that he'd hated about Josiah's deck the most, even more than his Shi En. Back in the day, Mike and Josiah had always tried to hold back from summoning their ace monsters since whichever one was summoned first would be wiped out by the other.

"Now I'll force your hand!" Josiah cried out in rage, fired up beyond a point anyone gathered had ever seen for a long time, "I equip Shadow of the Six Samurai, with my Legendary Ebon Steed, giving him 200 extra ATK!"

**[Shadow of the Six Samurai – Shien – ATK: 2700]**

The warrior mounted the black steed that had appeared on Josiah's field as Josiah declared, "Now strike his Paladynamo down!"

The black horse charged directly at Mike's warrior as the Shadow of the Six Samurai drew his sword, and as he passed Starliege Paladynamo he struck at him, forcing Mike to stumble backwards a little as his LP declined.

**[Mike – LP: 3000]**

"Mike!" Violet finally managed to find her voice as she cried out to him.

The warrior and his steed circled around and made its way back in front of Josiah again as the latter smiled evilly.

Mike only turned his head slightly towards Violet as he regained his footing, and gave her only a stern nod to signal to her that he was okay. She nodded in reply, and Mike focused back on the duel: "I have to admit, I'm actually having a little fun with this duel now, Josiah..." he complimented his old adversary, "But if that's all you're able to do this turn, then I'm afraid you just ran fresh out of luck.

"Starliege Paladynamo's special ability now activates," Mike reminded them all, "Allowing me to draw one card from my deck!"

Mike drew as Josiah crossed his arms smugly. "Well, my turn is over," he wrapped up, "So let's see just how you intend to get passed by Shien!"

"You're not gonna like this, then," Mike warned him as he drew.

"Since I have no monsters while you do," Mike started his turn, "I can bring out my Constellar Siat from my hand!"

**[Constellar Siat – ATK: 100]**

"And now my little guy's gonna activate his special ability!" Mike cried, "He can copy the LV of any Constellar monster in my graveyard, so his LV 1 stats are going to my Constellar Pollux's LV 4 stats!"

**[Constellar Siat – LV 4]**

"And now I'll bring back my Constellar Kaus to the field!" Mike went on.

**[Constellar Kaus – ATK: 1800]**

"And you'll remember his special effect, I'm sure," Mike explained, "Twice per turn, he can increase the LVs of Constellar monsters by one. So he'll increase his own LV and Siat's LV both to 5!"

**[Constellar Siat – LV: 5]**

**[Constellar Kaus – LV: 5]**

"Now I'll build the overlay network one more time," Mike cried as the special portal opened once more, "And Xyz summon my Constellar Pleiades!"

**[Constellar Pleiades – ATK: 2500]**

"And now my Constellar Star Chart lets me draw one more card!" Mike continued, a sudden shift in his tone now apparent: self—assurance.

Mike now drew what was to be his last card this entire duel, Violet, Danny, Marina, and the entirety of Josiah's team all held their breaths. This would be the deciding moment for who was about to win this duel.

And when Mike saw what he had drawn, he immediately realized who the winner of this duel was going to be—and he smiled.

"I activate my Pleiades's effect!" Mike cried, "By detaching one overlay unit, he can return your Shadow of the Six Samurai to the extra deck!"

As Josiah's warrior disappeared, Mike then played his final spell card: "Now I equip my Megamorph spell to my Pleiades, doubling his strength since my LP are currently lower than yours!" he continued.

**[Constellar Pleiades – ATK: 5000]**

Josiah now lost all color in his face as Mike made his final declaration, "Now Constellar Pleiades, attack Josiah directly and finish this duel!"

Constellar Pleiades took up his large sword and charged Josiah, who cried out as Mike's creature sliced right through him to finish him off.

**[Josiah – LP: 0]**

The moment slowly sank into the spectators of the duel as they watched the two duelists' duel disks deactivate, while Josiah sank to his knees in defeat. Never had Josiah gone through such an intense duel, much less an even more humiliating defeat.

"Yo, Josiah!" Mike, Violet, Danny, and Marina watched as a few of the football team's members ran up to their captain, "Are you alright, man—?"

"Get AWAY from me!" Josiah shouted, cutting them off as he grasped at his head before looking toward Mike, who only watched him with a cold expression that was almost arrogant.

Without another word, Josiah stood and started running back towards the city, while the rest of his team watched him and cried for him to come back.

On the sidewalk next to Mike, Danny finally gave a low whistle. "I have to say, Mike…" he told his old friend, "That was by far the best duel from you I've ever seen!"

Mike's eyes flickered towards his friends for a moment, however he didn't speak another word. Instead, he just turned and started walking away in the direction that Josiah had just ran in.

"Is he seriously just gonna leave...?" Marina wondered aloud, now sharing in the shock that the rest of her friends were in at their old friend's actions.

But Violet couldn't let that happen. "Mike, wait!" she finally cried after him, running after him and catching him by his arm.

He stopped and stood there, not glancing behind to look at her. He felt Violet's hand trembling, and he understood: he had just come back, and now was leaving again. She didn't want to let him go.

But he couldn't stick around—he hadn't been planning on facing Josiah, and he hadn't intended on encountering his old friends either. And he couldn't keep them from school, either—he would have to come back later.

"Violet," he spoke softly but sternly as he pulled away from her, "Bring the others to the old spot after school. I'll meet you there."

And without another word, he continued walking away, leaving Violet and the rest of the people standing outside of Dexterity High wondering just what they had seen. Josiah had completely broken down and Mike had apparently turned stone—cold over the last two years. This was the last thing any of them had ever expected to see happen.

_"Mike..."_ Violet wondered silently, _"What happened to you...?"_

* * *

**A/N: PLEASE READ**

**Hey, me again. Hope you enjoyed this first chapter of Mark of Death—I apologize now in advance if you didn't like it or if you thought the material was lacking in quality, but I assure you that this is the start of a story that is only going to become much more intense and complex. Some of you out there reading might know just what I'm talking about. **

**Also to my personal friends on FF, if you're reading this: do me a favor and do not PM me right now. There is still a lot going on in my life that's really screwed up and I don't have too much time to socialize. I barely had time to write this. I promise we'll be able to talk again soon in the future—I'll PM you myself when I can.**

* * *

**Next Time**

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 2**

**"Details"**


	2. Chapter 2: Details

**A/N: PLEASE READ**

**Hey, me again. Hope you're not ignoring me, because I got some important things to say in these A/Ns. Thankfully enough this time I don't have too much to say.**

**So the ending of the first chapter had one small unedited part that I HAVE fixed, but if you're too lazy to go back and look, it's posted right beneath this A/N before the next chapter. Just thought I'd let you know.**

**Also one thing I'm bringing up: a recent PM asked me about the whereabouts of "The Lost Decks" story. I wanna make this very clear: that story is NOT, under any circumstances, making a comeback, nor am I publishing the original content for viewing. I consider that whole entire venture a personal training regimen for myself to develop my skills as a story-writer, and that resulted in me coming up with THIS, what I am writing and what you are reading right now. Please enjoy this story and do not inquire about TLD anymore. It's a scrambled mess of chopped up chapters in my computer right now anyway and I don't have time to put it back into sorts anyway. XD **

**Anyway, let's get the show on the road! Onto Mark of Death, Chapter 2! **

* * *

**LAST TIME ON MARK OF DEATH...**

"Mike, wait!" Violet finally cried after him, running after him and catching him by his arm.

He stopped and stood there, not glancing behind to look at her. He felt Violet's hand trembling, and he understood: he had just come back, and now was leaving again. She didn't want to let him go.

But he couldn't stick around—he hadn't been planning on facing Josiah, and he hadn't intended on encountering his old friends either. And he couldn't keep them from school, either—he would have to come back later.

"Violet," he spoke softly but sternly as he pulled away from her, "Bring the others to the old spot after school. I'll meet you there."

And without another word, he continued walking away, leaving Violet to then notice the most disturbing detail she'd noticed about him so far: the fact that the back of his trench coat was tattered with bullet holes.

_"Mike..."_ Violet wondered silently with horror as her hands were brought to her mouth, _"What happened to you...?"_

* * *

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 2**

**"Details"**

* * *

For the rest of the day, Danny, Marina, and Violet had returned to their normal classes. The events that the entire school had taken a break to witness of Mike defeating Josiah became the most common topic of interest, even among the teachers and staff.

Josiah didn't return to school at all that day, not even to retrieve his book bag that he'd left behind. With him gone, the rest of the football team that usually tailed him were unsure of what to do with themselves, aside from wonder just why Mike had returned. But at the mere mention of his name, it eventually spread through the school like wildfire that he had returned and defeated Josiah.

The rest of the students of Dexterity High felt as if a giant weight had been taken off their shoulders. Usually you could never walk the hallways of the school without the probability that Josiah would either torment you himself, or have his lackeys do it while he watched for his own amusement. So in a way, the entire student body was grateful to Mike.

Danny and Violet's last class of the day was English, to which they were preparing for their final exam in the subject. Marina, being a junior, had another class to attend to, which was Health. The two senior friends ensured that they sat next to each other so as to make undetectable conversation without being caught by their teacher, Mr. Carnell.

"Just how amazing has this day been?" Danny whispered with enthusiasm to Violet as they sat themselves down in Mr. Carnell's class, "I mean, Mike's finally back, and Josiah hasn't been around all day!"

"I know..." Violet whispered back, however she was only able to be half-focused on what it was Danny was saying.

She was more focused on thinking about Mike: how he had just arrived from what seemed like the dead, defeated Josiah, and then just walked away again. That couldn't have been the only reason he had come back, could it? It didn't seem to click in her mind-there had to be something more to Mike's actions and appearance after disappearing for two years, but what it could be was beyond her comprehension to think about.

And then there was the cold words he had exchanged with Josiah and even his own best friend. It was a side of him that she had never seen before, much less one she knew existed. In retrospect, now the idea that perhaps this was what the last two year's events had turned him into sank into her mind, and the bullet holes in the back of his duster only made what he had to have gone through unimaginable in her mind.

"Violet... Violet!"

Danny's whispering voice finally found its way to her head, and she snapped out of her thoughts with a jolt as she shook her head. "I'm sorry..." she apologized to him, "I guess I'm kinda just..."

She couldn't finish what she was saying, but Danny nodded to confirm he knew what she meant. "I get that this probably affected you more than anyone else..." he tried to comfort her as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know what he means to you."

Violet scoffed at this statement by Danny. "You haven't been in love with him since you were a kid," she retorted, a tone of mild annoyance detectable in her voice.

_That_ prompted Danny to shut up as he took his arm from her shoulder to leave Violet to go back to her thoughts. Though finally seeing Mike again after two years and not knowing why he had decided to come back, there was still one thing on her mind that particularly bother her that she just couldn't figure out: what had driven him to leave for the last two years.

_"Could it possibly be because of the 'accident' that happened back when we were kids...?" _she wondered to herself, a grim expression now coming to her face.

Just before she could begin to think about that horrendous day, Mr. Carnell called her name as he did attendance: "Miss Alyssum... Miss Alyssum!"

Danny gave her a nudge to bring her back to her senses, and the sudden jolt by reality startled her as she finally replied, "Oh, uh; here!"

She looked up at her English teacher as she spoke; as always, he was wearing a casual sports jacket over his white dress shirt, along with pants that no one could tell if they were jeans, dress pants, or some kind of really odd crossover of the two. His sandy-blonde hair was neatly kept short, and his hazel green eyes seemed to be reflected bigger than they actually were behind his plastic-rimmed spectacles.

"About time," Mr. Carnell spoke, "You need to get your head out of the clouds and pay more attention in class, Miss Alyssum."

He gave Violet a look that she had a feeling meant extra homework tonight, and as she hung her head Mr. Carnell continued his attendance check.

And as Mr. Carnell called out names, Violet only became more and more unsettled in her mind. There was no way for her to know just what had happened to cause Mike to leave, much less figure out how he had become the person she'd seen today.

* * *

The elevator to the door of the school's usually empty fourth floor gave a loud ding, signaling that someone had just arrived on the landing of that floor. The two doors moved away from each other to let the dirty-blonde haired man wearing the black duster step through.

Mike glanced down the hallways of the unoccupied hallway: nothing but walls decorated by canvases and portraits that contained pictures, paintings, and other works of art that the students of Dexterity High worked hard to create. To the right of the elevator landing, the only thing that was at the other end of that hallway was a glass door that Mike remembered was the faculty room that no students were allowed to enter.

To the left, he found what he was looking for: the wooden door with the same green doorframe he also remembered, with a gold-rimmed sign on the door that read in capitals: 'DR. CRAWFORD: PRINCIPAL.'

The elevator doors behind him dinged again as they closed, and he made his way to the door, rapping his knuckles on it three times. "Who is it?" came a voice from inside that Mike recognized immediately.

"It's me, Dr. Crawford," Mike replied, hoping that the man behind the door would recognize his voice.

There was silence from behind the wood that Mike remained standing behind for a moment, but then the voice within finally spoke again: "Come in."

Mike turned the knob and granted himself access inside. The first thing he noticed was how differently the office looked compared to the last time he'd seen it two years ago: new filing cabinets took over the space of wall directly next to the door he had walked in through, replacing the rusted ones he remembered.

Dr. Crawford's desk was made of solid marble, held up by smaller, metal filing cabinets that must have held more personal items. Upon the desk was a large-screen computer that had multiple windows opened on it, all from either different files or internet searches. A wireless mouse and keyboard lay between him and the screen. Mike would definitely say that Dr. Crawford had traded up from his previous, wooden desk that was connected in one piece to filing cabinets, which had also been rusted.

Bright sunlight shone through two windows in the room: one from the side of Dr. Crawford's desk, and one directly behind him that had a shelf beneath it holding what looked like magnolias in a large flower pot. The flowers were definitely being taken care of well, as they stood tall and proud, full of life. A small, plastic watering can sat beside it.

Dr. Crawford sat behind the marble desk in what looked like a half office chair, half Lay-Z-Boy. He was dressing in his usual red, collared, short-sleeved shirt that he found to be professional enough, along with a pair of jean shorts that were definitely _not_ professional. His handsome face had a smile on it as he looked down at the papers he had already been going through, his long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail as usual.

He finally looked up as Mike closed the door behind him, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "I thought you had taken off earlier this morning after that duel, Mr. Slade," he informed Mike.

Mike's eyes narrowed as he eyed Dr. Crawford cautiously, as if he was on alert to be attacked by him at any minute. "How do you know about that?" he questioned his old principal.

Dr. Crawford laughed heartily as he looked back to his papers. "The stereotype of a football jock is not as far off as others take it to be," he explained, "The rest of the football team practically made an announcement about how their captain got defeated by you."

Mike did not respond, but instead just continued to look down at Dr. Crawford as he continued to flip through his papers. Feeling his eyes on him, Dr. Crawford abruptly stopped reading, put down the papers he had been going over, and looked up to face Mike again. "I'm guessing there's something you want with me," he spoke plainly.

"Business," Mike replied simply, his tone indicating that he wasn't in the mood to deal with anything else.

Dr. Crawford was quiet for a moment before then deciding to change the topic for the moment: "Want to tell me where you've been the last two years?" he implored.

Mike averted his eyes from Dr. Crawford's gaze at that. "I don't have the time for this, Dr. Crawford," he spoke, "Don't try to change the subject-"

"I will speak business with you once I get the story," Dr. Crawford compromised, not wanting to let information he'd been wondering about for so long slip out of his hands. He had wanted to know where Mike had disappeared to, and this was probably the best chance he had at learning what he wanted to know.

Mike brought his eyes back to Dr. Crawford's, who looked at Mike with a longing for information. He scoffed; "I guess there's no getting around it, huh?" he inquired.

"Why did you run off in the first place?" Dr. Crawford asked, wanting to ease into the conversation.

Mike shook his head. "You ought to know the answer to that, Crawford," Mike shot back, dropping his respectable tone, "After all, you helped me get through most of it."

It was true: before Dr. Crawford became Principal to Dexterity High, he was a guidance counselor and therapist. Mike, at an early age, had been one of his patients after what they both referred to as the "accident." But he had retired from the therapist position shortly after Mike finally stopped seeing him.

Afterwards, he became Principal of Dexterity High with help from the fact that he was very understanding and cared for young students, and would most likely be able to help students through the teenage drama that he'd helped others deal with for many years. So he and Mike had since then looked at Mike being a student at Dr. Crawford's high school a kind of "play of fate."

But now Dr. Crawford rubbed his temples as the memories of what he and Mike used to discuss returned to his mind. "I suppose you still carry all of the blame, then?" he asked, though he knew the answer already.

Mike averted his eyes again. He could not—nor would not—speak of the "accident" that had changed the course of his life; that had put him into an orphanage that was barely able to be considered a "home."

Dr. Crawford pressed on, not wanting to keep on the subject for too long for his old patient as he continued inquiring: "So were you trying to find redemption?"

Mike only nodded in response, though the look on his face now told Dr. Crawford that he was only half-right, but at least he was onto something.

Dr. Crawford now sighed as he pushed aside the papers on his desk, not wanting to be distracted. "You didn't find it, did you?" he pushed on, "You only turned into a glutton for punishment."

Dr. Crawford knew that that was a harsh way to put it, but his philosophy was that it only helped to keep to the reality of the way things were. If the one he was trying to help couldn't put up with it, they had to find a way to do so.

"I've seen a lot of terrible things, Dr. Crawford," Mike spoke gravely now as he continued avoiding eye contact, "I've even _done_ a lot of terrible things... these were two years where nothing good happened."

"What such things?" Dr. Crawford pressed, eager to learn just what Mike meant.

But Mike could not—and _would_ _not_—dare speak of the events that happened to him and around him. He only took the funnily-functioned duel disk from its holster at his side and tossing it onto Dr. Crawford's desk.

"This is more than just a duel disk, Crawford," Mike explained as his eyes—now filled with a death-like intensity—locked with his old therapist's.

Dr. Crawford looked from Mike to what he had just tossed onto his desk. And as he stared long and hard at it, he then realized what Mike had meant: it didn't just look like a gun for design. It _could_ and _had_ literally take lives.

"So were you trying to eliminate what you thought was the 'scum of the earth' as your redemption?" Dr. Crawford guessed, still trying to comprehend that what Mike was implying was the truth.

"Something like that..." was Mike's only reply as he took the gun from the marble desk, replacing it in its holster at his side as he spoke, "But it wasn't anything like that at all in the end. Only murder."

Dr. Crawford eyed the gun in Mike's holster, and then tore his eyes away from it as he breathed a heavy sigh, getting up from his seat and walking to the shelf inhabited by magnolias. "Murder..." he spoke as he tended to them, sprinkling them with water from the plastic can as he continued, "A damnable offense, to be certain, despite how good its intentions may have been. But we cannot help but sometimes misplace our faith..."

As he set the watering can down and sat himself down again, he continued, "Yet you came back to face everyone. If you're still able to face your friends—and even your enemies—it means not all is lost for you."

"Not yet, no..." Mike agreed, this being the closest to the first hopeful thing he'd said the entire conversation, "And that's why I came back. I want to make things right, and I couldn't do it staying out there."

Dr. Crawford could see the honesty in his old patient's eyes, along with the sadness for what he'd done, and the hatred for himself for having done those things. He'd seen this look in Mike's eyes only once before: when the two had first met, after the "accident" in Mike's life had caused him to only look at himself in resentment. Now, more than ever, that resentment burned brightly in his sea-blue orbs.

He sighed once more, leaning back in his chair. "What inspired you to run off to look for something to redeem yourself with?" he asked the last question remaining in his mind.

Dr. Crawford saw Mike's eyes dart to the uppermost part of his lower left arm for only a moment, before looking immediately back at Dr. Crawford. "That's something I can't tell you, Dr. Crawford," he spoke sternly, "In fact, I'd actually like to get down to business."

"What is it you're looking for, Mr. Slade?" he decided to go to what Mike wanted to talk about, realizing he wasn't getting any more information out of Mike now, though now his eyes continued to dart towards that spot on Mike's arm.

Mike reached into his duster, and pulled out from it a white envelope that held a large bulge. Dr. Crawford's eyes were now immediately glued to the envelope, as he had a feeling that he knew what was inside.

"I want to finish my education as quickly as possible," Mike explained his request, "I only learned as far as self-defense and how to kill while I was gone, but those won't get me too far in the real world, will they?"

He tossed the bulging envelope onto Dr. Crawford's desk, and the Principal eyed it with curiosity before taking hold of the it. When he tore at the seal, out poured what was an unspeakable amount of one hundred dollar bills. He eyed the money hungrily, but he felt as if this money definitely belonged somewhere else. However, the amount was more than enough to help the school get out of the financial crisis it was currently facing.

"Where did you come upon this kind of money?" Dr. Crawford asked with suspicion in his voice as he now looked to Mike cautiously.

"That's not exactly something you should concern yourself with," Mike avoided the question, to which Dr. Crawford nodded to with relent.

"So you only want to finish your classes and graduate?" Dr. Crawford asked, a suspicion in his tone that did not go unnoticed by Mike.

"That and get my diploma," Mike explained, assurance in his voice that seemed to ease Dr. Crawford's mind, "Also, I was wondering if you could set me up with nightly courses. You'd understand if I told you I don't exactly feel comfortable being around my peers anymore, right?"

Dr. Crawford only nodded before saying, "Very well... I can set up a program for you to come here for nightly courses within a week or so."

Mike smiled half-heartedly at his plan's success. He hated having to take advantage of how desperate he'd always known the school was financially, but he couldn't help but think that Dr. Crawford would have given him the education anyway, considering just how much he favored Mike. So Mike instead felt as if he was just trying to repay the kindness that the Principal before him had shown him over the time they'd known each other.

"Thank you, Dr. Crawford," Mike thanked his old therapist as he turned towards the door, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be later."

Dr. Crawford smiled at this comment. "Going to hang out with those old friends of yours?" he guessed, "Mr. Stark, Miss Livesey, and Miss Alyssum?"

Mike stopped as he laid his hand on the handle to the door when he'd heard those names. "How have they been doing?" he asked, a mixture of concern and curiosity in his voice.

"It's been rough for them since you left when it came to dealing with Mr. Sullivan," Dr. Crawford admitted, "But they've lasted this long. And I know they've missed you; more than you probably care to believe."

Mike gave a small chuckle, but then went quiet again before he spoke with a tone that was seldom heard in Mike's voice: compassion.

"What about Violet?" he asked specifically, "How has she been?"

It was Dr. Crawford's turn to chuckle. "She was probably the one affected by your disappearance more than anyone else," he replied, "And if you must know, she has your name written on most of her folders."

Mike smiled slightly at that thought. "Again, thank you Dr. Crawford," Mike thanked him once more with returning respect as he reached into his duster, pulling out a small piece of paper from it that he tossed onto Dr. Crawford's desk.

"That's my number," Mike explained as Dr. Crawford picked up the piece of paper to examine it, "In case you need anything."

Dr. Crawford took a moment more to look at the paper before looking to Mike with a smile of his own, replying "I'll be in touch."

And with that, Mike walked out of the office, closing the door behind him as he now made his way back to the elevator. But his footsteps in time seemed to become slower as he withdrew into his mind, lingering on the memories that Dr. Crawford's questioning had brought up inside of him—both of the time of the "accident" and of his memories from the last two years.

As he rode back down the elevator again minutes later, the last question Dr. Crawford had asked Mike concerning his time out west still lingered in his mind. He glared at the small spot on his arm that he had grasped earlier. It was almost funny to him now—thinking that the one smallest thing had thrust him into a life he never would've thought of living in his wildest dreams…

* * *

**_FLASHBACK_**

The short, dirty-blonde haired boy dredged through the sandy desert as he fought against the wind. His throat was parched and dry as every step he took felt like another day to his exhausted mind.

It was Mike, wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt with rolled up sleeves, along with black pants that were held up by a black belt with a deck case on it.

He had been walking for three days in the direction that he had felt drawn to. He had no idea why, but the cut on his arm that he had had his whole life seemed to tell him where to go, and he couldn't find it in himself to resist the urge to follow what it wished.

The medium-sized, 'X'-shaped cut on the upper part of his lower arm was one that always looked like a recently closed wound. Though he had had for as long as he could remember, he found it especially odd that it had just started stinging violently when he had awoken that morning. And while something like that cut would be more considered a scar, Mike couldn't bring himself to call it that since it had always stayed in the same condition, as if it kept re-opening itself. It was a phenomena that he had never seen the likes of, and it freaked him out to no end just how it was able to control him.

Mike was now beginning to feel its sting again, only more intensely than before. He hadn't felt it since he'd started walking in the direction that seemed to make the cut stop stinging, and he wondered if he'd somehow wandered off the path that it wanted him to go in.

But within a few more moments, Mike could finally make out a distinct figure out in the distance that he believed was who he was being drawn to: a man standing in the sandy wind, looking like he was awaiting Mike's arrival. Mike wondered if maybe the stinging was telling him to get to the mystery man.

He pushed himself harder to try and reach the man faster, but it was making the cut sting more and more brutally. He didn't know how he wasn't just dropping dead from his lack of strength, food, and water, and how he was able to bear the pain of the stinging feeling he couldn't shake.

Finally he reached the point where he could see the man clearly: he had long, black, wispy hair, and a van dyke beard of the same color. His eyes seemed almost completely black—a deep shade of gray as dark as the most electrifying storm. He was wearing a black duster, beneath which Mike made out a black shirt, belt, pants, and even what appeared to be a gun holster.

He would've wondered if he'd made a mistake in choosing to approach the man, but his mind and body had reached its limit as the stinging feeling soared to a new height that made his entire body feel like it was on fire. He had lost all control of his body and thoughts, and sank to his knees before his head then hit the sand as well.

Though barely conscious, Mike heard the man standing above him scoff as he looked down at his lifeless form. "You're a weak one, aren't you?" he spoke, though not as if he was expecting an answer back

And without another word, the man effortlessly lifted the boy in his arms, and turned his back to the direction he'd watched the boy come from, disappearing into the sand storm.

**_FLASHBACK END_**

* * *

Dexterity High's last bell rang, signaling that the last class of the day had ended. Afterwards, the usual pandemonium that ensued shortly afterwards occurred: students shoving and pushing their way down the flights of steps to try and reach the glass double-doors that were the school's primary entrance and exit.

Danny and Violet met up with Marina on the second floor, where her last class of the day had just finished. They each greeted each other as they waited out the flooding of the hallways, not wanting to be run over by the charging barrage of agitated students.

When they finally made their way outside, they immediately turned right on the sidewalk the school occupied. Students were always told that the area beyond there in that direction was forbidden, which was exactly why Mike had thought of it as the perfect spot for them to hang out when they had first started high school.

From the school doors, the road leading to the right led to an abandoned construction site, which was originally where the city was going to build an extension to Dexterity High. The site in general was actually rather dull: typical equipment used by the deceased workers were scattered about, and tools lay on top of different pieces of metal or wood that was to be used before the site's closing down.

"Anyone know why this place got shut down in the first place...?" Marina suddenly pondered as they walked into the old construction complex.

"Well, back in Freshman year Mike heard a story about how all the workers had a mishap with a truck full of cement pipes or something," Danny explained, "And since then people claimed that there are voices whispering in the wind around here at night, so people are terrified of the thought that maybe 'ghosts' had killed the workers."

Marina rolled her eyes at Danny's story. "People actually believe in that stuff?" Marina asked incredulously, "Who still believes in ghosts?"

"Well, apparently Mike did..." Danny figured, though by his tone he seemed doubtful of those beliefs as well, "Why do you think he always had us leaving before six at night rolled around?"

"I always thought the nun who ran the orphanage he lived in had a curfew set for him..." Marina explained her reasoning, "But I've never heard of anyone else in County Dame being afraid of ghosts."

"Well, duh!" Danny retorted exaggeratedly, "No person in their right mind openly talks about believing in real ghosts haunting a place!"

While the two continued to bicker as they approached an old trailer, Violet followed suit silently as she the thoughts that had been racing through her mind all day clouded her other senses, draining out her friends' voices. She was surprised by how much Mike's sudden return had truly affected her, and in her mind she could only reason that it meant one thing: she truly WAS still in love with him.

But now another thought sent a jolt through her heart as she realized: Mike had always seemed to show a lot of care and affection for her his whole life, so she'd always thought that he'd cared for her as much as she did for him. But if he had, then what were the chances that perhaps he had lost his affection for her while he was away? Or worse, what if he had fallen for someone else...?

Now she shook her head as they entered into the old trailer, trying to shake that thought out of her mind. She couldn't bear to think that Mike had ever been with someone else.

Instead, she forced herself to look at the inside of the old trailer she hadn't been in for two years: small tables, a couch, and a small television that didn't even work huddled in the corner of the room. With no electricity to power anything however, the small space itself could only serve as a small room to hang out in and have private conversations in.

Everyone settled themselves as they each grabbed their old spots that they had always taken: Danny sat backwards on a chair while holding his skateboard; Marina took a chair and put her feet up on one of the small tables; Violet sat on the couch, where she and Mike had used to sit after school every day.

Danny kept his eyes focused on the window, looking out as they all waited for their old friend. Marina kept herself busy on her phone texting her parents while Violet tried to keep her mind empty of all the concerning thoughts that she had been having all day since that morning. She should have been happy: the boy she loved was finally back and was going to be with her again.

"Our guest of honor has arrived!" Danny suddenly cried out, giving Marina a startled jump as Violet's eyes lit up, and she instantly dashed towards the door to open it, wanting to see Mike before anyone else.

The door swung open, and there he was: walking towards the trailer with his head slightly bowed, and his long hair hid his eyes from Violet's sight, concealing whatever expression was upon his face.

He stopped directly in front of the trailer door as the others gathered behind Violet. Mike finally lifted his head so his face was able to be seen, and the others all beamed to see him smiling slightly.

"Long time no see, old friend!" Danny cheered happily as he rushed past Violet and jumped the stairs leading in and out of the trailer, wrapping his arms around Mike's neck in a bear hug.

"If one thing's never changed," Mike spoke flatly, "I still hate hugs."

Danny immediately let loose his grip on Mike awkwardly and released him as the girls came out from the trailer as well. "Welcome back," Marina greeted cheerfully.

Mike nodded in response, and then locked eyes with Violet. She immediately blushed for the moment before regaining the color in her face, saying, "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Mike replied to her, his tone somewhat different than that of the way he spoke to anyone else.

No one else but Violet noticed this, and she broke the eye contact as she looked to the ground shyly. Little did she know that Mike understood what was running through her mind, especially after learning from Dr. Crawford about what she liked to scribble on her folders in her free time.

"Man, do I have some stories for you!" Danny's voice interjected into his own thoughts as he grabbed Mike by the arm, practically dragging him into the trailer, the girls following them as they all returned to their spots inside.

Not even before they were all settled, Danny had begun talking about the things that had happened since Mike had departed, with Marina oftentimes chiming in either to make a point or to mention something that made Danny look like a laughingstock. He kept telling her to shut up at those moments, to which she just laughed harder at him.

As Mike listened intently to the stories, occasionally giving a small chuckle whenever an extremely funny part was mentioned, Violet sat beside him on the couch, her eyes not lingering from his face. Everyone else was so wrapped up in Danny's stories that no one had noticed her staring at Mike, not even Mike himself. Despite the extremely happy feeling she had at finally having what was her closest friend back, she still had that same feeling that he wasn't _all_ there—like a part of him was missing.

She could definitely tell that Mike had lost a lot of patience while he was gone from the duel with Josiah, and he definitely didn't like to tolerate crap coming from anyone. She understood that whatever he'd experienced out there had given him a low tolerance level, but there was more to it than that; she just couldn't lay a finger down on what it was.

Eventually, Danny's long-windedness finally ended as he concluded his compilation of tales with, "And then today you showed up, and pretty much gave that Josiah Sullivan the ass-kicking he deserved!"

Mike nodded his head as he gave a small grin and clapped. "A well-told set of stories, Danny..." Mike complimented his old friend, placing his hands down as he continued, "Looks like I missed out on a lot."

"No kidding," Marina agreed, "To quote the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'"

Danny looked at her in confusion. "Just what exactly does Charles Dickens have to do with my telling stories?" he asked her with raised eyebrows.

"Simply put," Marina spoke, "Those stories may have been some of our 'best times,' but they were our 'worst times' because Mike was missing from them."

Marina had hit a deep spot in each of the gathered friends' spirits. Not only had what she'd said been beautifully poetic and well-thought of, but it was ultimately true. Mike was the one who'd brought them all together—the glue that bound them all to be as close as they were.

Violet made sure to take mental note of that comparison from Charles Dickens's line. She'd been looking for a way to describe the time that Mike had been separated from her—from all of them—and that was, by far, better than anything she'd ever come up with.

Now Danny leaned further against his chair as he looked to Mike. "So then..." he said with a grin, "Your turn. What've you been up to?"

Immediately Mike's face went dark, and Violet suddenly became frightened at the sight of Mike's grim expression. It was not only clear that there was no way in hell Mike would disclose what he had been through, but that stern frown told her that it had affected him a LOT worse than she could have even imagined.

"I'm sorry," Mike apologized, "But I'm afraid I can't tell you guys about that."

"Oh, c'mon!" Danny retorted as he leaned back in his chair slightly, earning a rolling of the eyes from Marina, "I just practically lost my voice covering the last two years of OUR lives, but you won't?!"

"It's not about how much I have to tell," Mike replied simply but sternly, "It's about _what_ I have to tell."

Only now did Danny realize that Mike had become completely serious. He and Marina now got a good clear look at Mike's grim face, and Violet thought that perhaps they were beginning to realize that whatever Mike had been through was probably more than they could handle. Whatever it was, it looked like Mike had barely been able to handle it himself.

Danny calmed himself down with a long sight, followed by a mild pause before suggesting "Alright... if you give us the story, we'll EARN the story!"

Confusion momentarily spread across Violet's and Marina's faces as Danny stood up, his arm extended and his finger pointing to Mike as he spoke: "I challenge you to a duel! And if I win, you give us the story!"

Marina gave Danny a look like he'd just said he had no care for accidentally skating into a dog. Violet was wide-eyed as she now looked from Danny to Mike, who stared back as his standing friend with a solid stare. She had no way of predicting how Mike would react to anything after today, and all she could do was just hold her breath as she waited for Mike's response or reaction.

Mike closed his eyes calmly as he finally gave a small "Hmph," followed by, "Fine, not like you'll win anyway."

Marina shook her head as Violet gave a small sigh of relief, glad to see that Mike seemed to remain undeterred in accepting any challenge.

Danny slapped his knee excitedly as he cried, "Alright, then let's get this duel on the road!"

But as Marina pulled out her phone to check the time, her face paled as she saw what time it was: "Um, maybe you wanna save the duel for tomorrow..." he suggested as she looked up to them all, "It's a little past six..."

Danny immediately whipped out his phone to confirm it as Mike and Violet both glanced at their watches to see she was right. Violet noticed that Mike wore his watch on his right hand; despite him being right-handed, he must've worn it so as to let his left arm be occupied by his duel disk when it needed to.

"Fine, we'll meet up after school tomorrow!" Danny cried out as he leapt from his seat, looking to Mike as he spoke "You better be there!"

And with that, he took a leaping bound over the concrete steps that led up into the trailer and wheeled away on his skateboard, down the hill that led back into the city of County Dame. Marina could only sigh as she and the others followed suit, stepping outside.

"See you tomorrow then," she spoke to Mike and Violet before walking back towards her home as well.

Mike watched her as she walked away for a moment, about to turn to face Violet before he felt her tap him on his shoulder. He turned to face her as she quickly told him, "Find some way to contact me tonight, alright? There's something I wanted to talk to you about in private."

Before Mike could even manage to choke out a reply to her, she dashed off after the others, eager to get out of the haunted area as well. Mike was left standing there, wondering just what she wanted to talk to him privately about. Could it have something to do with her feelings for him that she apparently harbored?

Mike pushed the thought from his mind. He would worry about it once he found a place he could spend the night. He walked out of the fenced construction yard, ready to search for somewhere to sleep for the night.

* * *

**A/N: PLEASE READ**

**Oh, slice-of-life chapters, you've always been good to me... writing duels is hard as all hell. XD Thankfully the next one is already pre-written as well, so I shouldn't have too much trouble.**

**Anyway, to those of you who know me and how my original plan was to release chapters for this every week... that's just not gonna happen. I'm gonna be updating at random from here on out, so just keep your eyes peeled. I AM bent on actually finishing this story, but my schedule won't allow me all the time I want to work on it, plus other interests that are more major like music distract me. **

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed chapter two. A little extra development put in there. Next chapter's gonna be a bit of drama with a touch of action and fun on the side. Again, I'm sorry if you're not intrigued yet, but this story's meant to drag out like this for suspense purposes. It's going to get REAL intense soon enough, I promise. **

**Also to my personal friends on here: things have at least cleared up a bit so I can message you guys, but don't expect me to be able to respond at a moment's notice all the time because that's just become impossible. It may even be a day or two before you hear from me again as it is. **

**And to my not-so-personal friends or just random readers... feel free to message me with questions about the story or myself. I don't bite. I'm friendly. XD Just again, don't expect me to always immediately respond. **

* * *

**Next Time**

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 3**

**"Strength"**


	3. Chapter 3: Strength

******A/N: PLEASE READ**

**And we're back with another exciting installment! And for once, I actually mean that since we have an actual duel going on in this chapter! ... towards the end. XD Don't worry, it'll be fun, but everything else is just a little extra development that I couldn't cover last chapter.  
**

**Anyway, I have a few points I wanna cover. First: I figured what the hell with this bit: every chapter's gonna have a "LAST TIME ON MARK OF DEATH..." segment before the actual chapter in case there are ever edits that I had to put in last-minute to the previous chapter but you're too lazy to go back and look for 'em. And to those of you who want a refresher course of what happened last time, that'll be there for ya too if you wanna recap. If you don't care or just remember everything anyway, feel free to just scroll to the actual chapter, that's all you. If I feel like they're unneeded for the chapter in question, I won't put 'em there. **

**Second: I've decided that this story is gonna be divvied up like manga volumes—for the sake of my own fun. XD So this story here, you'll noticed has been renamed as Volume 1: The Return Home Arc. Each volume will cover a different part of the story that I have separated into arcs, and each arc lasts about six chapters. So by the time the entirety of this story is fully completed, there'll be about... eight different stories on my profile. **

**And why make this so stupidly complex? Because I'm bored and it's more fun for me that way. **

**Anyway... is that it? Yep, that's it. I'm good. ROLL THE CLIP! **

* * *

**LAST TIME ON MARK OF DEATH...**

Danny stood up, his arm extended and his finger pointing to Mike as he spoke: "I challenge you to a duel! And if I win, you give us the story!"

Marina gave Danny a look like he'd just said he had no care for accidentally skating into a dog. Violet was wide-eyed as she now looked from Danny to Mike, who stared back as his standing friend with a solid stare. She had no way of predicting how Mike would react to anything after today, and all she could do was just hold her breath as she waited for Mike's response or reaction.

Mike closed his eyes calmly as he finally gave a small "Hmph," followed by, "Fine, not like you'll win anyway."

Marina shook her head as Violet gave a small sigh of relief, glad to see that Mike seemed to remain undeterred in accepting any challenge.

Danny slapped his knee excitedly as he cried, "Alright, then let's get this duel on the road!"

But as Marina pulled out her phone to check the time, her face paled as she saw what time it was: "Um, maybe you wanna save the duel for tomorrow..." he suggested as she looked up to them all, "It's a little past six..."

Danny immediately whipped out his phone to confirm it as Mike and Violet both glanced at their watches to see she was right. Violet noticed that Mike wore his watch on his right hand; despite him being right-handed, he must've worn it so as to let his left arm be occupied by his duel disk when it needed to.

"Fine, we'll meet up after school tomorrow!" Danny cried out as he leapt from his seat, looking to Mike as he spoke "You better be there!"

And with that, he took a leaping bound over the concrete steps that led up into the trailer and wheeled away on his skateboard, down the hill that led back into the city of County Dame. Marina could only sigh as she and the others followed suit, stepping outside.

"See you tomorrow then," she spoke to Mike and Violet before walking back towards her home as well.

Mike watched her as she walked away for a moment, about to turn to face Violet before he felt her tap him on his shoulder. He turned to face her as she quickly told him, "Find some way to contact me tonight, alright? There's something I wanted to talk to you about in private."

Before Mike could even manage to choke out a reply to her, she dashed off after the others, eager to get out of the haunted area as well. Mike was left standing there, wondering just what she wanted to talk to him privately about. Could it have something to do with her feelings for him that she apparently harbored?

Mike pushed the thought from his mind. He would worry about it once he found a place he could spend the night. He walked out of the fenced construction yard, ready to search for somewhere to sleep for the night.

* * *

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 3**

**"Strength"**

* * *

At the bottom of the hill that led to Dexterity High, County Dame's landscape was vast and widespread. Large, complicated structures of buildings flooded the cityscape-the places where large businesses and companies held their headquarters. Those who were actually living in the city lived in either nice, roomy apartments that were luxurious, or even owned their own houses among the buildings. There were very few small, shabby apartments still made up of bricks, where those without as much money resided, and they proved to be the only places in the city next to Dexterity High to have such an old type of structure.

Mike knew his options for finding a place to sleep for the night were minimal, but he already knew where he _wasn't_ going: the orphanage he had formerly lived in that had paid for him to be able to attend school in the first place wouldn't take him in again. Sister Abigail would surely inquire about his whereabouts, and out of respect there was no way he could lie to her about anything. And if she'd learned he'd been off in a place where he'd killed, she'd never be able to take him in.

So he figured he would have to settle for an alleyway between all the of structures that were side-by-side. However, if he was going to be able to contact Violet, he would need one with a certain quality about it: his laptop, which hung within its case that was concealed in his duster's large, backside pocket, was dead from the last time of its use, and required a three-holed power outlet for its charger to work.

He did not find what he was looking for until sometime in the ten o'clock hour of that night, at which time he hoped Violet was still up. Near the far edge of the city, he sat wedged between a large, newer building, and one of the shabbier apartments made of bricks. The shabby apartment building had a three-holed power outlet to its side, and he silently thanked whoever the apartment's landlord was, as it was him who would be paying for the electricity used to charge the laptop in the end.

He sat cross-legged, leaning against one of the apartment walls with his smooth, black laptop in his lap. He flipped the screen up and gently pressed the power button, the insignia of a "power on/off" switch illuminating at his touch. The screen flickered to life, and he watched as the computer company's logo hovered over the bar that slowly was tracking the system's loading time. Soon after, Mike was brought to his blue password screen, where he typed in a password of many digits, including letters, numbers, and even symbols of all sorts. It was the same password he'd used to every device he ever owned, and had taken at least a year to perfectly memorize given the number of characters and digits were in the password altogether: twenty.

The screen's color changed once more as it now went to his desktop. He opened an internet window, where the page told him there was no internet connection. He immediately scanned the area for a connection, and he came upon three different ones, each of which had fairly decent signals. He knew he would have no chance at getting any of the Wi-Fi passwords, so he took from his laptop case a round-cased USB, in which he plugged in.

Whatever software that USB had in it immediately went to work, hacking its way through the passwords and giving him every connection available fifteen seconds later. Now he brought himself back to his internet page, and he clicked his Facebook bookmark.

He was taken to the login screen, but having forgotten his email over the years, he instead plugged in his cell phone number as the secondary login, followed by the same password he'd used before.

His news feed flashed before his eyes, with his name, "Mike Slade," at the top left-hand corner next to a picture of him he'd taken years ago: it was he, Danny, Marina, and Violet at the beach from five years ago, celebrating their entry into ninth grade. Marina had been there to celebrate with her friends, happy for them.

Marina, shorter than all the others at the time, had her wet hair still braided. She was wearing pink sports shorts beneath a white sleeveless shirt, and appeared to be laughing as the camera had clicked.

Danny was next to her, his arms around both Marina's and Mike's necks. His mouth hung open as he smiled, and his tanned, shirtless form was dripping from his previous dip in the ocean. His bathing suit was a red and orange color, nearly in perfect tone of color with his tan.

Mike stood next to him, a look of slight annoyance from Danny's arm around him, but a small smile was still there nonetheless. He remembered how he'd refused to get himself wet that entire day, and had managed to keep that oath: his white muscle shirt was virtually untouched, and his camouflage shorts were still dry as when he'd put them on that day. Finally, Violet remained standing next to him. She had been wearing a purple bikini that day, matching the color of her hair perfectly.

The one thing that he loved the most about her in this picture was the one thing about her that he hadn't seen all day: her warm, open-mouthed smile like Danny's had been. He wanted to see her smile again; not from some picture, but in person.

Despite the many messages and notifications that were displayed at the top of the screen, he instead paid it no mind as he glanced to the right of his screen, displaying those who were online and available to chat. He gave a small sigh of relief to see that Violet's name was still glowing, indicating her online status. But before he could open the chat to message her, she had beaten him to it as a small _DING_ blared from his computer, signaling her messaging him:

**_Violet: _****hey! you managed to get on here! :)**

Mike smiled slightly to himself. He may not have seen her smile today, but seeing that she smiled before him on an online chat was good enough for him. Their conversation went on from there:

**_Mike: _****Luckily enough. Searching for a place to stay was a pain.**

**_Violet: _****haha, where are you?**

**_Mike: _****Comfortably sitting between a hard place and... another hard place. Huh.**

**_Violet: _****lol wow**

Mike contemplated what he ought to say next. She was the one who wanted to talk to him in the first place, so he just waited for her to continue. And sure enough, the chat symbolized that she was typing, but he only received:

**_Violet:_**** so... :/**

He could understand what was going through her mind: it was awkward since it was the first time that the two had spoken privately in any way for a while, and she was struggling just as much as he was to figure out what to say. So he tried to remind her just why he'd come onto Facebook in the first place:

**_Mike:_**** There something you wanted to talk about?**

She took a while before responding:

**_Violet:_**** um... yea... nvm**

**_Mike:_**** C'mon, you can tell me.**

**_Violet:_**** well...**

Mike now waited again, but not for very long:

**_Violet:_**** y did you go away?**

_"No crap and straight to the point, with only a small tad of hesitation. Violet hasn't changed much..." _Mike figured silently as he replied:

**_Mike:_**** A lot of personal crap. It'd be a while to explain.**

**_Violet:_**** i got nowhere to go**

**_Mike:_**** You got that line from me.**

**_Violet:_**** lol still nothing gets by u XD**

**_Mike:_**** Like that was going to change over the time I was away.**

Another pause filled with more awkwardness. Then she finally got to the point:

**_Violet:_**** its cuz of wht had happened before right?**

Mike had been half-hoping that she wouldn't figure it out, but on the other hand she deserved to know since she was closer to him than anyone, also he figured that her knowledge about him would easily help give it away to her.

**_Mike:_**** Perhaps you're a little TOO smart.**

**_Violet:_**** WTF were u thinking? u had me scared to death worrying about u! D:**

His heart sank. He knew that she'd probably get all riled up about the danger he'd put himself in. And she only continued to beat down on him with guilt:

**_Violet:_**** do NOT tell me u did it cuz u still feel bad about that same accident! ive told u theres no way it was ur fault!**

Mike shook his head. She definitely _did _know him too well. She had been there the day that the "accident" had occurred and watched it play out, and had sat with him afterwards to comfort him as he whimpered the words, "It's my fault..." continuously.

**_Mike: _****My actions and the purposes behind them are my concern, not yours.**

He knew that was a bad thing to respond with before he'd typed it, but he wanted to at least try and lay the law down that she didn't need to get involved. But of course, she didn't budge:

**_Violet:_**** u have no idea how much i care about u, do u?**

Mike resisted revealing about how he knew of the scribbles that were sprawled on her folders, and instead replied:

**_Mike: _****Feel free to describe it if you like.**

He had her cornered: either she caved and talked about what she truly felt, or find a way to slide out of it. And when she responded, she had cleverly used option B:

**_Violet: _****we've known each other for as long as either of us can remember, in case u forgot.**

_"Not bad…"_ Mike figured silently before replying:

**_Mike: _****Fair point.**

Mike could now feel the heat that had been building between the two settling down, and she replied after a minute or so:

**_Violet: _****i missed you**

Mike sighed exasperatedly. If there was one thing he was kind of annoyed by more, it was dramatic moments.

**_Mike: _****Back at you.**

Another moment passed. Mike wondered if he ought to have hinted to her a little more just how much he had missed her. But he realized it was too late when she replied with:

**_Violet: _****i gtg. c u tomorrow?**

Mike just sighed once more. If she hadn't caught on, there'd be another day to try again.

**_Mike: _****Yeah. Later, then.**

**_Violet:_**** cya! nighty night :)**

The light to her chat died out, and he silently thanked God that the drama didn't last long. He had no idea what he'd say if she'd told him the truth about her emotions towards her. He didn't feel as if he was ready to tell her how he felt the same, and to top that off—after the horrid acts he'd committed—he didn't even feel worthy of her affection.

He decided to try and take his mind off of the matter with the messages and notifications, but they were all just messages and posts to his wall from people asking why he had left, or prayers that he was safe wherever he was. He had expected as much.

He finally closed down the internet and shut down the computer, folding it back into its case. He removed his duster from his persona and covered himself with it as a blanket, leaning his head on the wall as his pillow. The uncomfortable position he was in made it difficult to fall asleep, but his training at being able to sleep on at least anything solid paid off in the long run as his mind fell unconscious along with the rest of his senses.

* * *

**_FLASHBACK_**

Mike managed to regain consciousness; however for a moment he believed he was dead. The last thing he remembered was his thirst and exhaustion overtaking him before collapsing in front the man with the scraggly black hair. In those last moments, he'd thought he was going to die for sure.

But now, as he finally managed to open his eyes, he realized his thirst had suddenly been quenched, and he felt energized for the first time in what felt like forever.

He sat himself up and scanned his environment: he'd been brought to a battered, wooden shack of some kind. He had been lying on an undecorated cot, which was next to a small table with a bottle of water and a plate with a bread loaf on it. Every other part of the room seemed absolutely empty and desolate, however he did find himself somewhat intrigued by the many holes that seemed scattered across all the walls—they looked like bullet holes.

As he tried to put his finger on a way to describe how he felt about the place, the door into the room directly across from his cot suddenly swung open, and in walked the scraggly, black-haired man he'd seen before collapsing.

The man's dark eyes pierced into Mike's. Mike had always had an intense stare of his own, but nothing like what this man seemed capable of—he looked like he could bring a man to his knees with just a glance. But Mike held his ground and looked back to the man, and a silent understanding seemed to pass between them. But whatever this understanding was, Mike was unsure whether he understood it for certain.

"So you're alive after all," the man spoke with a slight grin, as if this fact made him happy, though he retained his sense of seriousness, "Good. Come and join us. I will fill you in after the meeting."

Mike's eyebrows rose as the man moved back into the other room beyond the door. Mike didn't know whether he wanted to follow the stranger or not. He had to have been the one who'd saved his life, so Mike figured the least he could do was at least obey the man's wishes and join him in this 'meeting', whatever it was about.

But when Mike passed through the doorway and entered the room beyond, he almost instantly regretted it: the large room was filled with mostly rows and rows of chairs, all of which were seating some of the most rogue-looking men he'd ever seen. All of them were dressed in black and leather coats, and all of them looked to have battle scars on their faces or arms.

The scraggly-haired man was at the front of the room, standing before a wooden, rotting podium to the right of the room. In the middle of the wall behind him was a map of what appeared to be a small town, which was where Mike assumed he was. It looked like a meeting of some kind was going to start soon.

As Mike continued to scan the room, he was ultimately surprised to notice a girl among the crowd who couldn't have been any older than he was. Her hair was a little past shoulder-length and colored the darkest shade of distinguishable brown he'd ever seen, and she had eyes of matching color. She was dressed in more navy-blue colors, being a plaid, navy-blue shirt, and jean shorts of the same color, along with arm bands upon her arms.

She would have been considered drop-dead gorgeous to practically any teenage boy. Even the older men among the crowd near here seemed to keep shooting looks at her, as if checking her out. Mike was sickened at the sight of how these men ogled her—he himself didn't indulge in looking at girls, and older men looking at younger girls made his stomach churn.

He decided not to dwell on this for the time being, and just took to the corner of the room, waiting for whatever meeting was about to start.

The scraggly-haired man at the front of the room finally cleared his throat, and whatever murmuring was going on between the people in the room immediately ceased. Mike waited intently to hear just what was going on.

"Welcome, my friends," the man behind the podium began, "I am glad you could all join me here today.

"I called you here as a call for action," the man explained with a fiery tone, "Keir and his men decimated a lot of our best men while breaking the Code. This is an unforgivable act, and it is time we punished them!"

The men in the crowd all gave roars of approval in response to this. The girl wearing plaid stayed silent among them just as Mike did, however all Mike could think of was, _"Just where the hell am I, anyway…?"_

Now the roars from the seated men died down as the man speaking to them continued, "This time, we shall make the first strike. And it has to be a powerful one as well—they were only taking their time by eliminating some of our best men, but by now they must know we are weakened. So we must go immediately on the attack this time—only we shall follow the Code and battle with honor!"

More roars of approval came from the men. Mike couldn't believe what it was he was hearing, but he was beginning to piece together the situation in his mind: the men surrounding him were like soldiers in a war.

The scraggly-haired man now looked to another man standing in a corner of the room closer to him. This man was wearing what looked like a purple cape, held together in the front with many buckles. The fabric with said buckles wrapped around his shoulders, with a tattered cape protruding from the backside of it. The rest of his attire beneath the cape was a navy blue shirt with black pants, also decorated heavily with buckles and belts. His boots were silver, contrasting with the rest of his attire. At his side was what appeared to be a gun holster carrying an actual gun—in fact, upon further inspection of the crowd, Mike realized that every person gathered here had the same exact holster upon their belts.

The man's long, unattended hair was a chocolate brown, held up by a purple headband. The man's red eyes were, Mike realized, not contacts as he'd first momentarily thought. He could tell they were the real deal. The man's face also bore a scowl that Mike had a feeling didn't leave his face that often.

"Aeron here will be leading the assault on Keir's fortress," the scraggly-haired man explained, now turning back to his audience, "Bear in mind that Keir's men are numerous and strong. You all know there is a chance you may not return alive."

There was silence as Mike's head began to swim with what he was hearing, while the man continued, "The latest chance we can take to storm the fortress is two days, so prepare your decks as best as you can. I am hoping that more return here alive than dead for once."

This was the most shocking thing that Mike had heard. "Did he just say 'decks'...?" he questioned in his mind as he pieced together the situation in his head, _"So they duel to kill? They can't be serious...!"_

"So you have two days," the scraggly-haired man repeated to his crowd, "You can all rest easy for a while, but again: edit your decks to the best of your abilities. We want this to be the final quarrel with Keir, and we will win it following the Code. Dismissed."

And with that, every person in the room stood either to leave, or linger and talk with someone else. Mike almost didn't want to hang around to even find out what exactly he'd been brought into himself—he wanted to run away from all this, and go back home.

But just as that thought concluded, the scraggly-haired man now came directly up to Mike. "I apologize for not introducing myself before," he addressed him, "However the meeting was about to begin, and I didn't exactly have time. My name is Samael."

Mike nodded his understanding as Samael held his hand out to Mike. Mike took it cautiously as he replied, "I'm Mike—Mike Slade."

Samael now nodded as well. "A powerful name," he spoke with a grin before asking, "Tell me, what business did you have treading the Deceased Desert?"

Mike didn't know how he should answer this question. Who would believe him if he said that he was following what he believed a cut on his arm wanted him to do? Then again, the intricate design of the cut's appearance and the way it just wouldn't go away might be something that someone here knew about. There was really no harm in trying.

So without saying a word, Mike instead just rolled up his black left sleeve to reveal to the man named Samael the X-shaped cut upon his arm. Samael's grin returned to his face once again at the sight of it, only even wider than before. This was the last reaction Mike expected, and in his heart he suddenly felt as if he should be fearful of what it meant.

"Excellent," Samael spoke aloud before Mike could open his mouth to explain himself, and then he looked to the purple-caped man still standing on the stage like a stone.

"Aeron, come here," Samael called to the caped man.

Mike's heart began racing as the deathly-looking man named Aeron began approaching them. Though he was often never intimidated or scared by anything, this man sent chills down his spine and made his blood run cold with each step closer the man took towards him.

When he finally stopped a few paces away from Samael, the latter spoke as he indicated Mike with a gesture of his head, "The boy has a Mark—he responded to my summoning after all. I'm leaving him to you to teach him what he needs to learn."

"Understood," the man named Aeron replied.

His voice was deep and dark. Just the fact that he seemed more dead than alive made it easy for Mike to tell that he had definitely seen a lot in his years that obviously had to have scarred him to a point that made him into what Mike was looking at now.

Samael grinned at the deathly man before turning to Mike again. "Aeron will teach you everything you need to know," he told Mike with a pat on his shoulder, "Listen and learn well."

And with that, Samael now exited the building with a last nod to Aeron as he stepped out. Now Aeron looked to Mike, his velvet eyes piercing into Mike's ocean-blue orbs.

"You," Aeron spoke tonelessly, "Follow me."

Now Aeron followed the same path as Samael had taken and made to exit for the door. Mike's mind raced in that millisecond that he had to make a choice: he could go with this and follow the one and only man that scared him to death, or he could try to make a break for it and more than likely risk getting killed in the process.

He looked around the room, and noticed the girl that had caught his eye before. She was now watching _him_, and when their eyes met, Mike read only one message in her eyes: _"You're going to die if you don't follow that man."_

With one more nervous gulp, Mike found his strength and followed Aeron outside.

**_FLASHBACK END_**

* * *

The morning sun rose high above County Dame the following morning. The students of Dexterity High School were dropped off from their buses atop the hill in front of the scarred building, overlooking the students as they walked through its glass double doors. Out of all of the students, Josiah Sullivan was the only one absent, apparently still recovering from the humiliation he'd suffered at Mike's hands.

Violet stepped off of the stairs of her bus to the pavement, her conversation with Mike the previous night bustling in her mind like her surrounding fellow classmates. She clutched her books and folders close to her chest as she bowed her head, trying to keep as much to herself as possible to allow her thoughts to continue undisturbed.

Her plan to try and muster up the courage to try and tell him just how she truly felt about him had failed. In the end, she had forced herself not to over that chat, deciding that when she told him about her true emotions towards him, she wanted them to be face to face, not over a Facebook chat where it didn't feel like it meant anything. Violet wanted her confession to show that he meant everything to her.

Aside from that... there was still only one other thing on Violet's mind that morning: what if, in truth, he only cared about her so much as a friend? That was the main thing that was holding her back as well. She'd hinted to him many times before—only vaguely so as to not give it fully away—but there had been moments where she'd inadvertently let too much emotion show as well. If he'd picked up on it by now when he still hadn't reacted to it, it only meant he was as much of a jerk to just let Violet get her hopes up, or Mike really did like her back and didn't know how to react...

As Violet sat down in Mr. Carnell's class once again, she seriously continued to hope it was the second possibility that was the truth. She couldn't bear the thought of him not having feelings for her back. Her mind was so far away from reality, she did not see Danny leap into the chair next to her excitedly, no matter how noticeably obnoxious he was being.

"This is it!" he spoke as if Violet was listening; "Today's the day I finally get to duel against Mike again!"

He turned to look at Violet, and his smile turned into a concerned frown when he saw how distanced she was. He nudged her gently as his words worked their way into her mind: "Penny for your thoughts?"

Violet looked over to him now, and just shook her head. "Just... it's been a lot to take in, y'know? Kinda still getting over the fact that he's actually back..."

Danny nodded his understanding as he put his feet up on their desk. "Yeah, I'm still getting over it myself, I'll admit..." he told her, putting his arm around her again, "But ya just gotta be happy about it, right? I mean, yeah he seems to have been through a lot, and he's changed pretty dramatically, but so what? At least he's here and alive!"

Violet brushed Danny's arm off her shoulder with annoyance now. Normally she appreciated Danny comforting her, but she didn't like what she was hearing from him right now. "Aren't you even a little worried that he might've changed so much that something about him isn't what we thought it was anymore?"

Danny looked long and hard into Violet's worrisome face, even after she looked away from him. And despite his being somewhat slow, it eventually clicked in his mind as to what she was talking about. "Ah, you're worried he doesn't _like_ you anymore..." he said casually, leaning back in his chair lazily.

"Don't say it so loud!" she snapped at Danny, startling him slightly to the point he almost fell backwards in his chair.

"Sorry, man…" he apologized sincerely as he readjusted himself in his seat, "But seriously, why're you worried about that? It's been clear to me and even Marina that you two have ALWAYS _liked_ each other! You think that might've changed over the last two years?"

"You make it sound like you know for sure that he didn't lose his affection for me," Violet retorted, looking at him as if daring him to admit he knew something she didn't.

But unfortunately, Danny only gave out a heavy sigh. "Well, I wouldn't know about _that_..." he admitted, "But I _do_ know that I've known him long enough to have enough assurance that he'd never stop caring for you like that. He's an old-fashioned guy—once he sets his heart on someone or something, he stays true to them or that."

Violet wanted to believe Danny with all of her heart, but a part of her was still unsure. No one knew ANYTHING about what had happened to him while he was gone. Who knew with whom he had interacted with? Who knew what _girls_ he might've met? That was a particularly disturbing thought to Violet: even if he hadn't lost his ability to love, what if he'd fallen for someone else? The thought of that alone killed Violet inside a little.

As these thoughts ran through her head, Mr. Carnell finally walked into the classroom saying, "Alright, everyone get into your seats! Mr. Stark, get your feet off the table!"

Danny whistled innocently as he positioned himself to sit correctly in his chair while Mr. Carnell took attendance. Violet managed to at least let him know that she was there this time, but she didn't remember anything from that class afterwards—she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts and fears.

* * *

The day passed by real slowly for Violet, who could not get out of her own head and stop thinking about what might've happened to Mike while he was gone. It was almost as if a sickness had overtaken her mind, and there was unfortunately no cure that she could come up with to get rid of it.

When the final bell rang, Violet and Danny exited their last class and then hugged the second floor hallway wall to allow the other students to pass by them while they waited for Marina to come down from the third floor. Violet was still being rather reserved, clutching her books and folders tightly to her chest. Noticing how her friend was still uptight, Danny leaned over to her to make himself heard over the crowd as he asked, "Don't tell me you're still worrying about what _that_?"

Violet shook her head. "Actually, now I'm more nervous about just seeing Mike again..." she lied, "I forgot what it was like to be all nervous around the one you liked, y'know?"

Danny took a moment to consider what Violet had just said, and then shrugged before saying, "No, I don't know actually. I don't like anyone like that."

Violet took him saying this as an opportunity to get her mind off her troubles and tease him a little bit: "Oh, don't give me that crap. You're clearly into Marina."

Danny's face flushed red at that. "I am not!" he shot back hurriedly, "I'm only still friends with her because we've all been friends since eighth grade!"

"Oh, please!" Violet pressed, a smile coming to her face now, "The way you two are always arguing? She clearly likes you too."

"She's two frigging years younger than me, for god's sake!" Danny retorted with annoyance, "I'm not into girls who are THAT much younger than me! No sir!"

"Okay, maybe not..." Violet led him on, and his expression returned to normal for only a moment before Violet whispered in his ear, "But she's the only exception!"

Now Danny started glaring at Violet as he breathed heavily. "You can't hit a girl!" Violet reminded him with a sly smile, knowing that his usual reaction to Mike being a wise-ass to him would be to whack him in the head.

"What're you two talking about?"

Danny sharply turned around to face Marina at the sound of her voice. "Boxing!" he blurted out stupidly, "We were talking about boxing... and how Violet and I can't box with each other... because I can't hit a girl..."

Now Violet was laughing at her friend's stupidity while Marina eyed Danny confusedly. "Okay..." she replied, sounding like she didn't fully believe him, "Well, at least you're enough of a gentleman not to hit a girl. Now c'mon, let's go meet up with Mike!"

And just as she finished saying that, the last of the crowd finally was filing through the hallway, and Marina followed them. Danny stood there hitting his head against the lockers along the walls while Violet muttered to him, "Nice cover," before following Marina as well.

Danny hit his head one last time before following the girls now too, muttering to himself, "Boxing, Danny?! Really?!"

The three of them made their way outside from the school building as the last school buses rolled away from the building. "So when is Mike supposed to be here, exactly?" Danny inquired as his eyes followed the last bus driving away.

"Right now."

Danny whirled around on one heel while the girls whipped around quickly to see what Mike leaning against the school building with his arms crossed. Just seeing him standing where he was made Violet's heart practically leap out of her chest.

Danny now walked past the girls as Mike moved from the wall into the road just in front of the abandoned construction yard's entryway. Facing Mike from about ten feet away, Danny stood his ground as he dropped his book bag to his side.

"You remember our deal then, Mike?" Danny reminded Mike as he pulled his duel disk from his bag, arming his left arm with it, "If I win this duel, you're giving us the story on your last two years!"

Mike drew his revolver-shaped duel disk from its holster and put it to his wrist, allowing it to activate as his deck appeared in its barrel. "Fine by me, then," Mike assured him as Danny activated his own disk, "Like I said before, you'll have to be able to _beat_ me first."

Danny chuckled at that statement. "Big words for someone who hasn't seen my new build yet!" Danny exclaimed as a smile adorned his face.

Violet and Marina stood side-by-side a little ways away from the two guys. Marina was on edge waiting for them to begin, while Violet couldn't take her eyes off of Mike. She wanted to take in every detail of his being as it was now—she wanted to be able to replace the younger version of him she had preserved in her memory with what he looked like now.

Finally, Mike and Danny drew their five cards, and cried out "DUEL!"

**[Mike – LP: 8000]**

**[Danny – LP: 8000]**

"Go ahead and take the lead," Mike offered to his best friend, his cold and stern face he had showcased during his duel with Josiah now returning to his face.

"If you insist!" Danny cried as he drew first, "I'll start with my Machina Soldier!"

**[Machina Soldier – ATK: 1600]**

Mike scoffed slightly. "Don't insult me with your usual opening move," he shot at Danny, a small smile now coming to his face, "I was expecting something different from you for this duel."

"Don't worry!" Danny shot back as his smile widened, "I'm still full of surprises! Now my Machina Soldier lets me special summon my Machina Sniper!"

**[Machina Sniper – ATK: 1800]**

"And lastly, I'll activate the spell Machina Armored Unit!" Danny continued, "Which will come in handy a little later for me!

"For now," he wrapped up, "I set two cards, and end my turn! Your go!"

Mike drew silently, and scanned his hand for an opening move.

"Just like last time, I'm gonna begin by activating my Constellar Star Chart!" Mike decided as his opening move, "Which you know will help me out later.

"Next I'm summoning my Constellar Pollux to the field!" Mike continued.

**[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"And with Pollux's special ability," Mike explained as he took another card from his hand, "I can normal summon any other Constellar monster in my hand! So I'll release my Pollux, and in his place, I then summon Constellar Virgo!"

**[Constellar Virgo – ATK: 2300]**

"And with its effect," Mike continued as he took yet another card from his hand, "I can now summon another LV 5 Constellar monster from my hand in DEF mode! So now I bring forth Constellar Zubeneschamali!"

**[Constellar Zubeneschamali – DEF: 1400]**

"That's quite the move," Marina spoke out loud, "Never seen Mike bust out so many high-LV monsters in one turn."

"Neither have I…" Violet agreed, her eyes now off of Mike and focused on the entirety of the duel at last, "He used to hate utilizing high-LV monsters."

"And now," Mike continued as he took a card that popped out from his deck, "It gets even better: my Zubeneschamali lets me add one Constellar monster from my deck to my hand! And I choose my Constellar Sombre!

"Now I have two LV 5 monsters on my side of the field!" Mike cried as his Virgo and his Zubeneschamali now disappeared into a spatial portal, "Which means by overlaying them, I can then summon my Constellar Pleiades!"

**[Constellar Pleiades – ATK: 2500]**

Danny marveled at Mike's Xyz monster with awe. "So now I get to face off against the thing that took down Josiah?" he cried out excitedly, "Aw, hell yes! I call best day ever!"

"Not just yet," Mike corrected as he drew a card, "My Constellar Star Chart comes first.

"_Now_ I'll launch my assault!" Mike cried as he now pointed to Danny's Sniper, "Constellar Pleiades, attack his Machina Sniper now!"

Pleiades took up its large blade and moved in to charge down Danny's Sniper, striking right through its mechanical shell without breaking a sweat.

**[Danny – LP: 7300]**

As Pleiades took its place back at the front lines of Mike's field, Danny now shot at Mike, "I can see why you'd think that was a good move for yourself, but it was a good move for me as well, since you activated my Machina Armored Unit's effect, meaning I can special summon another machine-type monster that's the same attribute and has lower ATK than the one you just destroyed!

"So rise up!" Danny cried out as he took a card from his deck, "My Scrap Recycler!"

**[Scrap Recycler – DEF: 1200]**

"And upon its cameo on the field," Danny explained, "It then takes a machine-type monster in my deck and sends it to the graveyard!"

Mike watched as Danny sent his Commander Covington from his deck to his graveyard, realizing all too well just what he was planning on doing in the next turn.

This strategy did not go unnoticed by Violet or Marina as well. "He's seriously thinking that he can bring his 'big win' card out?" Marina questioned to herself, "Hasn't years of trying and failing taught him anything?"

"You might be underestimating him a little bit there, Marina," Violet countered back as she looked at the two of her friends facing off, "Danny may just get lucky this time."

But it was pretty apparent that Mike was not up for any surprises of any kind: "This main phase two, I use my Pleiades' effect!" he decided, "By detaching an overlay unit, I can return your Machina Soldier to your hand!"

Danny watched as his mechanical soldier faded away from the field as its card rematerialized in his hand. "Tsk," Danny uttered to himself, "Guess I should've seen that coming."

"I know what you're trying to bring out, Danny," Mike told him from across the pavement, "But I'm afraid I'm not gonna give you the chance to beat me today. Turn end."

"Then it's back to me!" Danny cried out as he drew his next card, and grinned hugely at the sight of what it was.

"Looks like he actually got what he needed for once," Marina reasoned as she looked into her slow-witted friend's expression.

"I'm gonna start by re-summoning my Machina Soldier!" Danny began, the energy in his tone beginning to rise in intensity.

**[Machina Soldier – ATK: 1600]**

"And joining him this time will be my Machina Defender!" Danny continued, his enthusiasm unfading.

**[Machina Defender – ATK: 1600]**

"And next, my two Call Of The Haunted trap cards will revive the two monsters I have in my graveyard!" Danny cried as his two traps flipped, "So let's welcome back my Machina Sniper, and welcome my Commander Covington!"

**[Machina Sniper – ATK: 1800]**

**[Commander Covington – ATK: 1000]**

Mike's eyes narrowed. "So you're actually going to manage to get _it_ out this time," he spoke, impressed at how his best friend had definitely upped his game.

"Now my Commander Covington is giving the order to have my Machina Soldier, Machina Defender, and Machina Sniper join forces!" Danny cried as his three named monsters seemed to fall apart amongst themselves; however it seemed that they were then _reassembling _themselves into one, GIANT mechanized mayhem of a monster.

Mike looked up at the new creature that had assembled itself to the point it was tall enough to match half of the height of the school building. Marina and Violet, having not ever seen this creature actually summoned before themselves, backed away so that they weren't directly in the shadow of the giant menace, as it felt like it could crash down upon them any moment.

"You all finally get to meet my Machina Force!" Danny proudly exclaimed, his face flushed with an expression that clearly showed he had never been happier with himself until this very moment.

**[Machina Force – ATK: 4600]**

"Unbelievable..." Marina uttered under her breath as she marveled at the sight of Danny's ace in the hole.

Violet had heard Marina's impressed tone; however she now took her eyes off of the gigantic creature to look at Mike, who was eyeing the creature carefully, as if he was trying to take it apart mentally in his mind to figure out how to shut it down.

_"You have a plan to take down that Machina Force, don't you?" _Violet asked Mike silently as she looked to him, wondering just what Mike had going through his head in this very moment.

"You may think he's not much to you now," Danny now called out to his best friend, "But you won't like him when he takes down your Constellar Pleiades! So now, by paying 1000 LP, I'll have my Force attack!"

**[Danny – LP: 6300]**

Machina Force brought its huge fist down upon Mike's Pleiades, flattening it outright and completely destroying it. The shockwaves of the attack made Violet and Marina flinch to shield themselves, while Mike stepped back a few paces as the mechanical fist came down and then rose up again from right in front of him.

**[Mike – LP: 5900]**

"And you know what else?" Danny cried out, a fire in his eyes he hadn't had since the days before Mike had left, "I still have two attacks left! One from my Recycler and one from my Covington! So now I'll have them attack too!"

Scrap Recycler moves swiftly on its small wheels and had its metal-chomping mouth chomp down on Mike's arm, while Commander Covington charged with arms out straight through Mike. The direct contact from these attacks almost made him loose his footing, but he managed to keep himself grounded as the mechanical monsters now moved back to Danny's side of the field.

**[Mike – LP: 5000]**

**[Mike – LP: 4000]**

Mike readjusted himself as Danny finally finished, "And I think that will do to finish my turn! Your move now, Mike!"

As Mike now stood tall again, he found himself smiling—even _laughing_—which left Violet, Marina, and especially Danny confused. After seeing how he'd been in the duel against Josiah, seeing Mike actually looking happy during a duel came as a bit of a shock to them.

"What's so funny over there?" Danny called out to his best friend, wondering just what could be going through his mind.

Mike managed to regain control over himself as he then replied, "Y'know, it's funny... funny how two years can make you forget the definition of 'fun.'

"But I'm starting to remember it now," Mike spoke honestly as his grin stayed glued to his face, "So thanks for the reminder, guys."

Though everyone was touched by these words, no one was more so than Violet at this point. Neither she, Danny, nor Marina knew just what had happened to Mike while he was away, but it looked like that—at least—he wasn't completely changed as they had all feared.

_"He's still the same boy I fell in love with 14 years ago..."_ Violet realized as she smiled the biggest smile she'd ever had in a long time.

Mike now drew his next card and looked for a good move to follow up against Danny's last strike. _"Alright, so I've got a giant bucket of bolts staring me down along with two other small fry,"_ he figured as he observed Danny's field, _"But he did leave himself wide open with no spells or traps to protect himself. Perfect."_

"I summon my Constellar Sombre!" Mike began his move.

**[Constellar Sombre – ATK: 1550]**

"And this guy here is _my_ little ace in the hole!" Mike explained as he now took his Pleiades from his graveyard, "See, it allows me to banish any Constellar of mine in the graveyard to return any other Constellar monster from the graveyard to my hand! So welcome back, Constellar Pollux!"

As Mike added his Pollux to his hand, Danny could almost see a little plan forming in Mike's head. He almost hoped that Mike might find a way to take out his Machina Force, just to give him a little extra challenge.

_"Even if he does take down my Force..."_ Danny reasoned in his head, _"I already have a plan in place that will let me rebound just as fast._

_"So take your best shot at me, Mike..."_ Danny challenged in his mind, _"I wanna see you at your very best!"_

"Now I'm gonna start having a little fun of my own!" Mike continued, "By using that effect of my Sombre's, it unlocks another hidden power in it that allows me to normal summon another Constellar monster this turn! So let's welcome back my Constellar Pollux!"

**[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"And now I'll overlay Sombre and Pollux into another creature that you're already acquainted with!" Mike cried out, "I Xyz summon Starliege Paladynamo!"

**[Starliege Paladynamo – ATK: 2000]**

Danny smiled at the old monster of Mike's as Marina's and Violet's eyes widened as they realized what it was they were looking at: both Mike's and Danny's ace monsters had finally appeared on the field, about to face off in battle.

This did not go unnoticed by Danny. "So your old ace monster finally gets to go against my true ace monster after all these years, huh...?" Danny mused with a wide smile.

Mike's smile widened as well. "I thought it only appropriate to take the classic way out in taking down your boss monster," Mike told him truthfully, "And that starts by using Paladynamo's effect right now!

"By detaching both his overlay units," Mike explained as he pointed at Machina Force, "Your oversized scrap yard loses all its abilities and ATK!"

**[Machina Force – ATK: 0]**

Danny wasn't surprised by this move in the slightest, yet he felt like he should have expected it more. But either way, it didn't matter what method Mike used to go around his Force—he'd lay waste to Paladynamo soon enough.

"Now, Starliege..." Mike commanded his old friend, "Attack Machina Force!"

Paladynamo took up his large spatial blade and charged forward, stabbing right into the core of Machina Force and passing right through it as it exploded above Danny's head.

Violet and Marina all watched with dropped jaws as Machina Force tumbled down as a scrap heap directly on top of Danny, who cried out in panic as he flinched while his monster came down.

**[Danny – LP: 4300]**

The Machina Force's image finally faded, revealing Danny as he struggled to make it back up on his feet. "I am SO glad these monsters aren't real…" he managed to mutter as he finally got back on two legs, "Because I don't think I'd like being a pancake!"

Marina let out a quick gasp of a laugh at this remark, but she stifled it just as quick. But Violet had already seen it—it was pretty obvious at this point just how much Marina seemed to like Danny as it was.

Mike gave a small "Hmph," before finally stating, "Well, pancake or no pancake, your ace monster's life was unfortunately short-lived."

"Maybe so..." Danny retorted as he managed to regain his footing completely, "But you forgot one very important detail..."

Mike's eyebrows rose as he then realized what Danny meant as his Machina Armored Unit spell card began to glow, signaling its effect was now activating yet again.

"Since you just destroyed a monster with 4600 ATK, I can now summon out any machine with the same attribute and ATK less than that!

"So now, let's give a warm welcome to my Machina Fortress!" Danny cried as his new Machina burst from the ground before him.

**[Machina Fortress – ATK: 2500]**

Marina went wide-eyed at this surprise move by Danny. "Well, well…" she muttered, impressed yet again, "Danny was actually able to come up with a safeguard in case his strongest monster got totaled. He really has come a long way."

Violet now looked to Marina with a playful expression. "Am I detecting a sense of glorification coming from you to him?" she teased.

"Shut up!" Marina shot back at her as her face flushed red, to which Violet responded by sticking her tongue out at her.

Mike now eyed Danny's Machina Fortress carefully. He could admit that he hadn't expected such a combo from Danny, so it was his fault for not taking extra precautions against him ahead of time. At this point, he could say that he had underestimated his best friend, but at least he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"I set two cards face down..." Mike concluded cautiously, "And that's all for now."

"Then I'm up once again!" Danny cried as he drew, his smile still beaming as he now looked at the two cards he had left in his hand.

But upon inspection, his expression immediately let everyone else know that he was perfectly confident in what he was doing as he now looked to Mike, saying "Pretty soon you'll owe me the story of what you've been up to for the last two years!" he reminded Mike, "And don't think you're not gonna tell me, 'cause I'm planning on winning this duel!"

Mike remained unmoving and still, only staring back into Danny's eyes coolly.

It was in this moment that Violet took notice of a habit of Mike's: just the mentioning of whatever he'd been doing or where he'd been the last two years seemed to make him go silent, and even become a little colder in terms of his tone and personality. That was how he had been when he had first gotten back, and that's how he'd gotten the first time Danny asked about the last two years.

_"Maybe trying to force an explanation out of him through this duel isn't such a good idea..."_ Violet reasoned in her mind, worried that perhaps this was possibly something that would push the boy she loved away from his friends again, including her—an idea that was unbearable to her.

"I'll start by putting into play my Solidarity continuous spell card!" Danny cried, "Which means as long as I've only got one type of monster in my grave, all my monsters on the field with the same type will all gain 800 ATK!"

**[Machina Fortress – ATK: 3300]**

"And now that he heavily outweighs your Paladynamo..." Danny now indicated Mike's warrior to his tank, "Let's see you get Force's revenge, Machina Fortress! Attack!"

The large, tank-like creature rolled quite speedily towards Mike's warrior, despite its ginormous size. It slammed itself roughly into Mike's Starliege, causing it to writhe momentarily before shattering. Mike braced himself from the force of the impact, surprised that it created as much of a shockwave as it had.

**[Mike – LP: 2700]**

"And don't think I'm done yet!" Danny told Mike, "I still have my Recycler and my Covington! So I'll now have them attack!"

Danny's two smaller monsters assaulted Mike once again, passing through him as they drained his LP even further.

**[Mike – LP: 1700]**

**[Mike – LP: 800]**

Danny now stood beaming to himself as Violet and Marina both blinked, surprised at how Mike had just let his monster and his LP be hit so easily. With a set card, it would've made more logical sense to use something that prevented an attack like that.

But Mike still let his face down card lay as it was as he spoke: "Not a bad move, but you triggered my Paladynamo's special ability—one that allows me to draw one card upon being destroyed!"

As Mike drew a third card, Danny scoffed slightly. "I still don't know how you expect to beat me, I gotta be honest, man..." he told his best friend, "I mean, look at what I've got compared to what you've got now!"

"Except," Mike countered with a grin, "You didn't notice who was at the real disadvantage, did you?"

Danny's eyes widened in confusion, trying to determine just what Mike had meant. But when he couldn't discern the meaning himself, Mike pointed it out for him: "I currently have three cards in my hand and will be drawing my fourth next turn, giving me a variety of options. You on the other hand only have a powered-up monster and one card left in your hand."

"So tell me..." Mike now gave his friend a quizzical look, "Who's _really_ screwed?"

Danny found himself paling at this. The fact of the matter was, Mike was right and he had never even considered how much more of an advantage Mike had. He'd been saving up cards in his hand for a moment just like this.

_"This could only mean..."_ Danny came to realize, _"That he's planning on trying to finish this duel next turn..."_

This same thought ran through Violet's and Marina's minds as well. It was usually when Mike found himself at a good advantage point like this where he'd try to take control of and dominate the duel, and this looked like one of those exact moments now.

But Danny wouldn't have it end so easily. _"If he wants to try and get around my Fortress, he can go right ahead..."_ he mused in his mind.

"I'll set one card face down," he wrapped up his turn, "And that ought to do it."

Mike drew once more, and looked at the five cards he now held in his hand. And from the look on his face, Danny could tell that Mike was ready to call this duel over. He would have to hope that his face-down card was the key to disabling any plan Mike wanted to set into motion.

"I'll start by summoning my Constellar Algiedi!" Mike began.

**[Constellar Algiedi – ATK: 1600]**

"And thanks to his special ability," Mike continued, "I can then special summon another LV 4 Constellar monster from my hand! And I choose my Constellar Kaus!"

**[Constellar Kaus – ATK: 1800]**

"But I won't be needing my Kaus's ability to raise any of my monsters LVs," Mike explained, bringing a mildly surprised look to Danny's face, "Instead, I'm going to overlay my two LV 4 monsters just as they are!

"And by building the overlay network," Mike cried out, "I can Xyz summon Constellar Praesepe!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

"And now I can use Star Chart once again," Mike explained, "And draw once more!"

Danny immediately formulated what he thought was Mike's plan in his head as Mike drew, and it wasn't what he had been expecting. "So you're hoping to use your Praesepe's effect to just barely take out my Fortress, huh?" he reasoned as he observed Mike's bulky warrior.

"Actually, there's one thing I need to do before I launch any attack!" Mike explained as he activated another card from his hand, "Remember this card, Danny?"

As it materialized on the field, Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes widened the most they had done yet that day as Mike cried, "It's my Riryoku spell card, and with it I'll be taking half of your Fortress's ATK—1650 of it, to be exact—and add it to my Praesepe's strength!"

**[Machina Fortress – ATK: 1650]**

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 4050]**

"But it doesn't stop there," Mike continued as he now flipped his set trap card: "My Skill Successor gives him 400 more ATK!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 4450]**

Danny clenched his jaw now as Mike finally cried out, "_Now_ I go on the attack! Constellar Praesepe, wipe out his Machina Fortress!"

Praesepe raised his fists as he dashed towards Machina Fortress, ready to deliver the blow that would destroy it.

Danny, however, wasn't willing to go down without a fight: "I flip my quick-play spell, Limiter Removal!" he cried out, "Meaning I can double my Fortress's ATK to the strength it was at before!"

**[Machina Fortress – ATK: 3300]**

"I'm afraid that's not gonna happen!" Mike cried as he played another card in his hand, "I use my own quick-play spell, Forbidden Lance!"

This took Danny, Marina, and Violet by surprise. "What's that do?" Danny demanded to know.

"Glad you asked," Mike replied as now Praesepe and Fortress collided, each trying to gain dominance over the other, "Any monster I choose not only loses 800 ATK, but it also cannot be affected by other spells and traps from this point forward!"

**[Machina Fortress – ATK: 2500]**

"And since I chained it to your Limiter Removal," Mike reasoned, "Your monster will lose its ATK bonus!"

"Afraid that's where you're wrong, Mike!" Danny cried, bringing a surprised expression to Mike's face now instead, "See, my Limiter Removal's special since it immediately doubles my monsters' ATK upon activation, meaning its ATK was already doubled BEFORE your Lance resolved!

Mike's eyes narrowed. Another miscalculation on his part that he'd have to take caution against in the future. "Well, I can still activate my Praesepe's ability!" Mike countered, "My Praesepe can detach one Xyz material from itself to gain 1000 more ATK during this damage step!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 5050]**

Everyone's eyes were now glued to the battle between Praesepe and Fortress as their ATK values were finally decided for the battle, but only Danny had one more thing to add to it all: "There's still my Machina Fortress's special ability!" he cried out, "When it's destroyed in battle, it destroys any other card on your field that I choose! So if my Machina Fortress is gonna go down, he's taking your Constellar Praesepe with him!"

That officially brought the battle between Mike's bulky warrior and Danny's mechanized tank to the ultimate climax as they forced themselves into each other, resulting in an explosion that destroyed both of them and sending shockwaves in every direction. Danny and Mike braced themselves against the force of the attack as Marina and Violet shielded their eyes from the light of the explosion.

By the time the winds had died down and the light had faded, Marina and Violet opened their eyes to see both duelists facing each other, panting slightly from the intensity of the battle that had just ensued. No one knew what to say or do—as if the battle they had just witnessed ended with stealing away their voices.

**[Danny – LP: 1750]**

It took some time, but Danny finally managed to let out a gasping laugh as the widest smile anyone had ever seen on his face appeared. "Now THAT..." he managed to pant out, "Was the battle to end ALL battles!"

Mike chuckled at this remark. "I'll definitely give you kudos for that move, Danny..." he complimented his best friend with honesty in his voice, "You definitely proved to me how much of a better duelist you've become."

"Well, I've still got my Machina Armored Unit!" Danny reminded him, "Which I'll use to special summon Green Gadget to my field to join my Recycler and my Covington, only in DEF mode!"

**[Green Gadget – DEF: 600]**

"And that will add my Red Gadget to my hand!" Danny continued as he added the named card to his hand, "And then next turn, I'll show you something from my deck that you haven't seen before!"

Mike gave a small chuckle at that, followed by, saying with a sly smile, "I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, Danny."

Danny's eyebrows rose at this. "What're you talking about?" he shot back, hoping Mike wasn't talking about what he thought he was.

"Simple," Mike spoke coolly, "This duel is about to end now."

Danny, Marina, and Violet each thought that their hearts had stopped as Mike explained, "I knew that Machina Fortress had the effect to destroy any card on the field, and I knew you'd destroy my Praesepe.

"But if you'd destroyed _this_..." Mike explained as he flipped over his final set card, "You would've won."

Danny could only stare in awe at Mike's Xyz Reborn trap card before bowing his head as he slightly laughed to himself. "I should've known..." he muttered, "You had it all thought out..."

"Of course I did," Mike replied as he raised his hand to indicate the beam of light that would rebirth his chosen monster, "So now, my Constellar Praesepe rises once again with my trap as an overlay unit for him!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

Danny could only watch with wide eyes as Mike spoke: "Now use your overlay unit, give yourself 1000 more ATK, and strike down Commander Covington, Praesepe!"

**[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

Praesepe barreled itself and thrust its arm into Covington, who gave a frightened cry before exploding, the shockwaves causing Danny to fall back onto his back, finally defeated.

**[Danny – LP: 0]**

Marina brought her hands to her mouth to conceal her surprised expression. Violet thought she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be pity for Danny in Marina's eyes, but she decided not to rib her on it—she'd made both Danny and Marina blush enough for the day, and she was also taking in the finish of this duel just as much as she was.

As the duel disks deactivated and Paladynamo disappeared, Mike began walking towards his grounded best friend, who muttered amusedly to himself with a smirk, "Man, all this l this time I spent trying to become a better duelist, and I still couldn't even beat my best friend..."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past you that you could," Mike stated as he now stared down at Danny, "You came pretty close."

Violet and Marina approached them as Mike helped Danny back onto his feet. "I guess this means you're not talking about the last two years, huh...?" Danny figured.

Mike scoffed at that. "You weren't gonna get that story anyway," was his retort.

"OH, OKAY!" Danny shot back in an exaggerated rage, "I SEE HOW IT IS!"

That earned laughter from everyone else as Danny stood there steaming, but he quickly simmered down.

"I will say, that was probably one of the most entertaining duels I've ever seen..." Marina admitted, "But Danny, you still need a little improvement."

Danny could only rub the back of his head with a sheepish smile at that remark. "At least give me some credit for finally getting Machina Force out!" he retorted, but Marina just shook her head.

Danny shrugged Marina's cold-shouldered remark off as Violet smiled at Mike, who caught her eye and returned the smile as well. She had a feeling that the two of them were exchanging the same understanding: things were finally beginning to return to normal.

Danny then suddenly snapped his fingers as he realized, "Oh yeah, we have a whole afternoon left to hang out!"

He looked to Mike as a sly grin spread across his face. "Race ya to the trailer!" he challenged Mike.

Mike could only smile in response as he shot back, "You'll lose that too."

And without another word, the two best friends made a mad dash towards the construction yard, neck-in-neck with each other as they ran.

Marina shook her head at the two of them as she stood alongside Violet. "Boys," she muttered, sounding both annoyed and amused as her eyes followed Danny in particular before she started following them, and Violet followed suit.

To her, life looked like it was going to just keep getting better for her from this point forward.

* * *

**A/N: PLEASE READ**

**... holy sh*t, I just realized how freaking long this one was. 0.0 Welp, I'm not putting a limit on myself or anything, but usually my chapters tend to last around 6000-7000 words long excluding A/Ns and other such things. Meh.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I certainly had fun with the duel... yeah... no, that was a lie. Writing duels is a bitch to do. -.- Seriously, I might've screwed up a detail or two in the duel. If you notice anything, then by all means, let me know. Also no one try to contradict me on the whole Forbidden Lance VS Limiter Removal thing. I did enough research to understand that was exactly how that should have played out. **

**Nevertheless, I hope you continue to read, because I'm not stopping, and things are definitely gonna pick up in terms of development next chapter... to those of you who get bored, don't worry, I only include slice-of-life chapters nearer the beginning to help develop the main characters more for you to get to be able to understand and like them. There's gonna be a LOT more action in the future. **

**Also in terms of getting this story done quicker for readers... if anyone is interested in co-writing with me in terms of just writing these full chapters, THAT would be the most appreciated thing to me in the world. Plus you'd get to see the madness that ensues in the story ahead of time. ;) Just a thought, though. Anyone interested though, PM me. **

* * *

**Next Time**

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mark of Death**

**Chapter 4**

**"Authority"**


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